Lesson 1 

Is Your Faith in Action?

    We are preparing to study Hebrews 11, which is called the faith chapter. We will learn how these people (saints) put their faith into actions and what those actions did for them that were around then and for us today. A lot of us have read Hebrews 11, and we were moved by it. Nevertheless, this movement may not have been a physical reaction, but an emotional one. It is my prayer that through this lesson series your faith will be put into action.

    As we go through Hebrews 11, I would like you to think on the faith that God has granted you. If He was to ask you, what have you done with your faith? How would you answer that question? There are a lot of us that could not give an answer to this simple question. I am willing to guess that some of us are very uncomfortable right now with this question. Yet this question needs to be asked and answered. Not just asked for the sake of asking, but to get us to think about what we are doing with the gift that God has given us. Some of us have put our faith on shelves to show off to all we let into our homes. Others put it into the safety deposit box or hide it to keep it safe from hurt and harm. If you fit into any of these categories, then this lesson is really for you. There are some other categories, in which you may have placed yourself too. For an example: “I pull it (my faith) out only in times of emergencies,” or ”I use it when the right people are around.” Again, I say to you that this lesson is for you.

    It is the goal of this series of lessons to get you to put your faith into action 24/7 (24 hours a day, 7 days every week) no matter where you may be. Because I believe, that God has allowed you to enter this mission (circumstance) for a reason. Based on these two scriptures, which we will be using throughout this series: Romans 8:28 and Psalms 23:4:

Romans 8:28

    And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called     according to his purpose.

Psalms 23:4

    Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy     rod and thy staff they comfort me.

    Many Christians are focused more on trying to keep themselves from sin. This has caused them to miss the fact that Jesus came into a sinful world to save it. If you think about this, maybe it is one of the reasons we have so many people who do not know the love and power of God. There are too many Christians in this category and they have become complacent in their walk for God. It is my prayer that this series will take you out of complacency and into action. In doing this your faith will grow and cause an increase in the Kingdom of God.

    We have been using a word that we need to define. The word faith comes from the Greek word pistis(pis’-tis), which means:

  1. conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it.
    2.    a. relating to God
    1. the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of     eternal salvation through Christ
       b. relating to Christ
    1. a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain     eternal salvation in the kingdom of God
       c. the religious beliefs of Christians
       d. belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from        faith in the same
  2. fidelity, faithfulness
    3.    a. the character of one who can be relied on
    Source: [http://www.studylight.org/isb/view.cgi?number=4102]
    As you can see, this word does not lay hold of the concept that faith is for hiding or placing it on a shelf or that is being used sometimes. In reality, you see and feel the boldness of this word in the lives of those who have it and the affect it has on others.

    Now with this in mind, let’s read all of Hebrews 11.
Okay, now that we have read it, let’s break it down and study these characters that are presented and see how they got into this book. In verse 1 - 3, we read the following, which sets the focus for the whole chapter:

Hebrews 11:1 - 3

    1. Now faith is the substance (confidence, foundation) of things hoped for (trusted), the evidence (proof,         conviction) of things (matters) not seen (discovered).
    2. For by it the elders obtained a good report (honourable testimony).
    3. Through faith we understand (perceive) that the worlds were framed (put in order) by the word of God, so         that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

    In verse 4, we read this:” By faith Abel offered to 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. “
Where can we find this event? What was the offering? Why was Cain not able to do the same? Who were their parents? How did this make Abel righteous? Answering these questions will give us a good understanding of Abel and how he got into the faith chapter.

    You can find the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:1 – 9. Cain’s and Abel’s parents were Adam and Eve and they were the first children born after Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden. You can believe that both children were taught about God and what he required of them. Adam and Eve had seen what disobedience had cost them in their relationship with God. Cain worked the ground and Abel was a keeper of sheep. The offering was to come from that which God gave you. Oh, as we can see, there is more to the offering than just giving back to God; it is about what you do and how you do it. In Genesis 4:3, we are told that Cain brought his offering from the fruit of the ground. Which on the surface seems right and it seemed right in his own eyes and heart. Yet when you read verse 4 and see what Abel gave, you see the difference. The difference is that Abel gave the first of the sheep. Abel gave the first because in his eyes and heart he knew that he would not have anything without God’s blessing. So before Abel took any part of the sheep that God gave to him, he had to give God the first part of what was God’s in the first place. Cain gave from the extra that he had, but Abel took for himself the extra. So how did this make Abel faithful and righteous? Because he believed that God would provide as he had already done for him.

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