Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
Father's of Faith
This message explores what real, active faith looks like by examining five biblical fathers from Hebrews 11’s “Hall of Faith.” Each figure—Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Moses—demonstrates a unique expression of faith: worship, walking with God, preparation, obedience, and godly decision-making. Their lives show that faith isn’t passive or future-based, but present and action-driven. These examples offer practical guidance and encouragement for believers facing uncertainty, reminding us that true faith transforms lives and lights the path through any challenge.
Pick your Bibles up. Let's get into the Word tonight. We lift those Bibles up, make Jesus glad and the devil bad. Say this together. Say, heavenly Father, what a wonderful time to be in your presence tonight. Thank you for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Thank you for the Word of God. It's the Word and the Spirit that are working together in my life to put me over, to position me for the end time ministry that you've called me to. I wouldn't be living right now if you didn't ordain for me to be living in the end days. So I'm alert, I'm awake and I'm ready to be used in Jesus name. Hebrews 11 please Feed your faith some more tonight. Verse one wonder how many hundred times I've preached out of these Hebrews 11, one Now, faith is, faith is now.
Speaker 1:It's good to always remember, remember your tenses. Don't say when you're, when you're walking by faith. Don't say gonna Gonna happen, will happen. No, faith is now, it's always now present tense. Everybody say faith is present tense. So I'm not going to be healed, I am healed. I'm not going to be healed, I am healed. I'm not going to be blessed, I am blessed All right. Now.
Speaker 1:Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, not seen as yet, for by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. So the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 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. And by it, he, being dead yet speaketh, or is spoken of yet is spoken of, says in my margin. By faith, enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him. Just think about that. I mean, what happened to Enoch? Have you seen Enoch lately? Where'd he go? What happened to Enoch? Have you seen Enoch lately? Where'd he go? He was not found because God had translated him, for before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God. For without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him.
Speaker 1:And so tonight I wanted to do a follow-up message on Father's Day and talk about the fathers of faith. Fathers of faith. We honor the fathers of faith on this Father's Day. All these that I'm going to talk about the two that I talked about and three more five.
Speaker 1:I'm going to talk about five fathers of faith that are listed in here in Hebrews 11. They all Old Testament saints and they're written about according to 1 Corinthians, chapter 10,. They were mentioned and written about in according to first corinthians, chapter 10. They they were mentioned and written about in detail for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the age are come, and of course, paul wrote that two thousand years ago. How much more does it mean to us? Because he's that much closer? I mean the end of the age is upon us, and so we need a warning, we need admonition, we need to be reminded of these things. We need these five flaming torches to light our way as examples. Flaming torches to light our way as examples.
Speaker 1:And here in Hebrews 11, in this chapter, one version says by faith. It says by an act of faith. So you know, we read, you know by faith Abel, by faith Enoch, and we're going to go down the list. By faith Noah. You know, we read, you know by faith Abel, by faith Enoch, and we're going to go down the list. By faith, noah you know Claire used that speaking about me this morning. By faith, abraham. By faith all the way through. So by an act of faith.
Speaker 1:Everybody say an act of faith. See, faith requires an action. Initial action is speaking in line with what you believe. You've got to speak it. But it always requires yet another action. You've got to act like faith.
Speaker 1:The simple definition of faith is acting like the Bible is true. Acting like the Bible is true. I just like that definition. Acting on the word, that's a good one, but acting like the Bible is true. Acting like what you say is true. If you're going to confess something, then you can't act like it, different than what you said. I mean just kind of makes sense, doesn't it? So let's dig into these five flaming torches. I mean I like to say we stand on their shoulders. We stand on their shoulders and the shoulders of others in the Bible, and not only them, but people like Smith Wigglesworth and Brother Hagen and you know just different men and women of God that I've known in my life. I stand on their shoulders. I mean I'm so grateful for the life I've had, the kinds of ministry that I've received and the kind of associations that I've had. So, by an act of faith, let's start here with Abel, verse four.
Speaker 1:By an act of faith, abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, and that's found in Genesis, chapter four. Now, cain was the firstborn of Adam and Eve. I was thinking about this recently. I was thinking about God and how patient he is, and sometimes I'm not. I want things right now, I want things to happen right now, but God just think. I mean he's God. God made Adam and then he made Eve and they failed. And then, you know, their firstborn failed. So he's got three strikes already. God, you got three strikes, you know. But he didn't quit. You know you shouldn't either just because you didn't work out quite the way you thought. You know, things didn't work out the way I thought on a lot of occasions, but you know, you just don't quit, you just keep on going. And so what was Cain's problem?
Speaker 1:Well, the Bible says, when you go back to Genesis 4, that Abel brought the firstling of the flock Because that's what Adam taught him to do. Adam taught his boys. The only approach to God was over a bleeding sacrifice. You cannot get to God without a bleeding animal. That's just how it. That's how God operates. And so you know his younger son, simple, and you know he's not as sophisticated as Cain, but you know he just did what his daddy told him. He brought a firstling of the flock. He took he's a shepherd boy. He's got some lambs and he killed that their first one, the nicest one, the best one. He killed it and he came to God and he offered it to God and God accepted his sacrifice.
Speaker 1:But the Bible says about Cain that in the process of time he brought an offering. In the process of time, he brought an offering In the process of time, in other words, when it was convenient for him. He's walking through the field and say, yeah, I need to give God an offering here. Let me snatch a couple of these stalks of wheat and I'll just bundle that up and throw it on a fire. God will have to be happy with that.
Speaker 1:Well, that's not the prescribed way to reach God. That's not the way that he was taught by his father to approach God. And you know, the proper way would have been if he had no firstling, which he's probably not raising any lambs or sheep or whatever. I guess he's just growing his crop. The proper thing to do was to take of his crop and buy an animal from his brother. But he didn't and he wouldn't. And he was obstinate. And you know, this is just a picture of religion. Religion wants to make its own way to God. Religion wants to establish its own rules. It wants to and it wants to bully everyone else into accepting it.
Speaker 1:He didn't like his brother. He didn't like his brother obeying his father and he didn't like his brother. He didn't like his brother obeying his father and he didn't like his brother showing him up, and he certainly didn't like God rebuking him about it. So he went and killed his brother, murder. So Cain wouldn't repent. He said look, if you'll just do it right, don't you know your offering will be. God tried to reason with him. Look, if you'll just do it right, don't you know your offering will be? God tried to reason with him. Look, if you'll just do the right thing, don't you know it'll be received. But if you don't, sin lies at the door. You doofus, he was ironheaded and it cost him, cost him. So getting back to Abel, now he's a flaming fire to light our way.
Speaker 1:So what was his act of faith? His act of faith was worship. He worshiped God according to the prescribed way. I mean, his approach to God was worship. Did worship benefit him? No, it cost him the first link of his flock. He had to give the best.
Speaker 1:Worship is not for you, worship is for God. I loved our children. They got that principle. I mean, I found out about worship. Worship is not for me. Worship is not for me to get all worked up and dance around and have a happy old time. No, worship is just, absolutely is all to God. It's all to God, all to God.
Speaker 1:And we like people, you know really, we like people rejoicing, we like people dancing, we like people running. We like people very demonstrative during praise because we're praising. We like people very demonstrative during praise because we're praising. But there comes a time when we praise God until the spirit of worship falls and then it's no longer in order to dance and do a bunch of stuff. It brings attention away from him. Worship goes straight up and it's only for him, it's not for anybody else's eyes.
Speaker 1:Now, I've seen this for a long time. I mean, you've got these praise dancers and all that and all this and they try to act like that. That's worship. It's not worship, it's brass. It's brass and it will never work. And God is not glorified. It's no different than Cain. You're getting something out of it. You've practiced and you've got your little uniform on, you've got your little shoes. You know, look, that's not worship. Worship is just you and God. And maybe you're flatter than a flitter. It doesn't matter about your voice. You make a joyful noise and you're worshiping him. It's all for him, he's the audience. Have you ever seen people try to make you know you're the audience? They're trying to do all this stuff. You know, had one guy. You know that's not God. You're pulling away from him. You can do that during praise, all you want to, but when worship hits, worships for him. I loved it when the kids got that. I mean several of them talked about it this morning.
Speaker 1:His act of faith was worship. So let's, let's worship God. I mean God is seeking. He's not even looking for the praise dancers, he's looking for those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. I mean he'll take it, he'll take that, he'll take. I mean I like running, I've run myself. I haven't run much lately, but I can, I have. But when you worship, it's all for him, it's all in his direction and no one else is the audience. All right. So by an act of faith, abel. His act of faith was worship and it was an excellent sacrifice, all right.
Speaker 1:Number two, verse five it says my faith. Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him and he had this testimony that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him and he had this testimony that he pleased God and he walked with God. In Genesis, chapter five, says Enoch walked with God and was not for God took him. He walked with God or he continued with God. So here in Hebrews it says that God translated him, that he had this. You know that he translated him, that he pleased God. He had this testimony that he pleased God. So he had to have faith to continue or walk with God. So you know, I noticed that Enoch lived along. He's like eight or nine generations away from Adam, he's way later.
Speaker 1:I asked the Lord years ago. I said where in the world did he get the faith to walk with a God he couldn't see? I mean he couldn't see God. He'd never seen him, he didn't know him, he'd heard about him. Where did he get all that faith? He said Adam, adam. Adam told him Adam and I had to go back and do the begets. I had to go back and do the genealogies and I discovered that Adam lived 57 years, you know, past the birth of, or in other words, enoch was 57 years old when Adam died. So for for 57 years then, enoch and no one else, methuselah, not none of Elam elect, none of them, none of them, none of them got anything from Adam.
Speaker 1:But but I, you know this, this, this man. He sat at, at, at great, great, great, great, great, great grandpa's feet and got an impartation of the love of God. Can you imagine the hole that was an Adam, the grief that was an Adam when he used to walk with God, and the Ruach, the breath of the day he used to walk with God, he continued with God and he, he knew God, he saw God, he heard God. He didn't even need faith because he, god, you know God apparent to him and all of a sudden he fell from that. Now he doesn't see him, he, he can't hear him, he's dead to him. Uh, he has no more contact with him like that, but he's still talking about it Hundreds and hundreds of years later, 900 and some odd years later, he's still talking about God and he's impressed his, his great great great grandson.
Speaker 1:He's impressed his great, great great grandson so much that his great great grandson says you know what? I'm going to walk by faith. I believe my grandpa, I believe he knew God. I'm going to walk with God even though I can't see him. I'm going to give him worship, I'm going to give him the firstling of the flock, I'm going to continue with God. And so his faith pleased God so much. He said all right, come on up here. You don't have to live down there with all the hellions. By that time everything's degraded. By that time things are getting dicey down there. So he just took him up. God's going to take us up before it gets too much worse. He continued I'm about to say I'm continuing with God. It's not how you start out, as whether you keep going. Let's keep going with God. Let's not just start good and end up on the scrap heap. So his act of faith. Then why buy an act of faith? What was his act of faith? Walking, or, we could say, continuing.
Speaker 1:It takes faith to continue with God. You know, because you're going to come up with things that you don't understand. You're going to get beat up Sometimes you're going to get circumstances are going to turn against you and you're going to have times when it's just not that, you know, easy to serve God, but you just serving. It hadn't been real easy for the last eight months to drive back and forth to Huff Smith and see my wife just a few, you know, a couple hours a day when we've lived together for 57, almost 57 years now the end of this month. But you know we just serve God. I mean, you know I just sometimes I'll sit out in the driveway, headed home, in front of the little house and now she's back home now.
Speaker 1:But there have been more than one time I'd sit out there and I'd say well, you know, lord, I'm just not moved by what I see, I'm not moved by how I feel, I'm only moved by what I believe that's got me through. I mean my faith continues, it'll get you through. I mean my faith continues, it'll get you through. I mean if you continue, he'll continue. Hallelujah, I stand on Enoch's shoulders. He continued Get anything out of this. I want your faith to get built up because we're going into some things. It's exciting and yet challenging at the same time. I was impressed this morning, about 24 hours a day. You know these kids are targets. The world is contending against them, trying to draw their attention away from God, and that's not just kids, that's all of us.
Speaker 1:All right, number uh, number three is Noah, verse seven by faith, noah, claire, use this for me this morning I really appreciate that. It was very touching that whole service. I just really was moved. I didn't expect it, I didn't know it was coming, so it was really precious.
Speaker 1:By faith, noah being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is of faith. Noah moved with fear, reverence, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I mean just for to to receive a warning of something that had never been seen. I've had warnings that you know that weren't that dramatic, but they were warnings nonetheless and I took heed, which is why this church is the way it is today. I, I mean I took heed to warnings. He's warned me over and over and over, and so we take heed to those warnings.
Speaker 1:That's the fear of the Lord. And when you do that, the beginning of wisdom. God will give you the wisdom to navigate through the troubled waters that the warning is for, just like Paul. And God warned him, hey, this voyage. He didn't directly warn him, he warned him in his own spirit. He said I perceive, I perceive, this voyage is going to be with a lot of hurt. And so he obeyed that warning. And then God gave him the warning to preserve all the life on the ship. The ship was lost in the warning to preserve all the life on the ship. The ship was lost, but the life was preserved. And so the same with Noah. He moved with fear.
Speaker 1:He didn't just sit around and worry about the problem. He, he not only built an ark, he prepared an ark. There's building and then there's preparing. There's building and then there's preparing. I mean, he did build it, no question, he constructed it according to the plan that God gave him. I mean board by board, you know, room by room, stall by stall. But then he didn't stop there, he didn't just build it, he equipped it, he furnished it, he outfitted it, he put the food in it.
Speaker 1:Are y'all with me now, this is speaking of the apostolic. This is the apostolic at work, because the apostolic is a procurement and then a distribution. I mean it's a gathering, I mean it's a lot of things that are tied up with that word prepare. We've prepared this church for this time, right here. God has outfitted it with you and the different giftings, and he's added my family, he's given my family, he's changed their ministries and he's added my family. He's given my family, he's changed their ministries, he's added to them and moved them into places that, quite frankly, I just go, wow, this is just amazing what God has done. He's done it. We didn't set out wanting to do that. We didn't set out thinking that that was part of the deal. We just built a local church, but no, he's equipped us An end time work, a barn for the harvest, if you will, and this is not just this building and this church. A barn is the association of all of the fantastic ministries that God has allowed us to work with and moved us in position to be part of. God has allowed us to work with and moved us in position to be part of, and so, while he prepared, the world perished. While he prepared, the world perished.
Speaker 1:Second, peter 2.5 calls him a preacher of righteousness. With every swing of the hammer, with every preparation that was made for the ark to actually carry the family and all those animals and successfully house them for as long as it took for the flood to recede, I mean, that was that whole time. Everybody's mocking him. They're thinking, oh, he's time. Everybody's mocking him. They're thinking, oh, he's nuts, he's another nut job and and he's a preacher of righteousness. There's a lot of a lot of preaching can be done by just our actions. I know preaching means words, it means proclaiming, but actions many times speak louder than words. I mean he could have preached. Who would have listened? Nobody. Instead, he just got. I'm not saying he didn't preach. He might have said something, he might have answered some of them, but mainly he built and he procured and he prepared. Amen, hallelujah.
Speaker 1:So his act of faith is preparation, prepared, he prepared. We're going to have to worship, we're going to have to walk and continue. We're going to have to prepare, keep preparing. I mean, let's prepare for what's ahead. We don't even know all about it, but let's be prepared, all right, by an act of faith.
Speaker 1:Number four, abraham, verse eight by faith. By an act of faith, abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should, after receive for an inheritance, obeyed and he went out, not knowing whither he went, for he looked excuse me at verse 9. By faith, he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob. So let's break that down by an act of faith. Abraham obeyed God. Well, not knowing Just one sentence Leave your father's house, okay, and can you point me in a? At least point me in a direction. I'll show you where later. Just leave your father's house. I mean, that's almost as bad as starting this church, really. I mean, broke, just foreclosed on the only prettiest house I'd ever built, the biggest house I'd ever built, just been sold on. The Ford House steps to the highest bidder and, yeah, go start the church. He obeyed God, not knowing Just one sentence of command. That's all you need. As a matter of fact, if you're not going to obey God's word, you're not, probably not going to hear the next word.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we're waiting for a paragraph, sometimes we're waiting for a novel, sometimes we're waiting for the end of the story. Come on, give me a novel and give me a good ending. And then I'll obey. No, he'll give you. He'll give you just the starting, the start, just give you the start. He'll give you just the starting, the start, just give you the start. And you got to be prepared to start. And that's what Abraham did. He started not knowing and then he went to a land.
Speaker 1:When God did finally show him the land, it wasn't his. He didn't get to own any of it, it was not his to own. He didn't get to build the Ponderosa, he didn't get to build the Tara, you know, you know, gone with the wind. You know he didn't get to. He didn't get to build the big ranch house. He didn't get to do that. He's living in a tent, and so were his boys and his grandson. I mean, they never did own anything until later. It was for his heirs, israel. He said look out here, this is all going to be not yours but your heirs one of these days. And I just that blows my mind. You know he didn't even get to owning it, he got to sojourn.
Speaker 1:So what were his two acts of faith? Obeyed and sojourn. So what were his two acts of faith? Obeyed and sojourned. He didn't try to turn it into his kingdom. He didn't try to turn it into his thing. He stayed in obedience to God. And what was his aim? A city whose builder and maker is God, something he didn't see, something he couldn't possibly see, and that's why he's the father of faith. That's why we're the seed of Abraham. He stuck it out. We stand on his shoulders for his obedience. He got to advocate for his nephew. He got to advocate for Sodom and Gomorrah. He got to procure, he got to gather. He was very rich in cattle, silver and gold, but, thank God, he obeyed and he sojourned.
Speaker 1:Are you getting anything out of this now? Alright, the last one is I'm going to talk about I could talk about Sarah, but she's not a father, so I'm going to skip over to Moses. No disrespect Sarah, but it's Father's Day. I'll talk about her on Mother's Day, alright. Number 5, moses, verse 24. But it's Father's Day, I'll talk about her on Mother's Day, maybe, all right? Number five, moses, verse 24.
Speaker 1:By faith, by an act of faith, everybody say an act of faith. By an act of faith, moses, when he would come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he had respect unto the recompense of reward. So you know, I could keep on about him, but I just want to make a couple of points about him. Moses, greatest prophet in the Old Testament, wrote the Pentateuch was so revered by Israel that God hid his body so that he wouldn't be turned into an idol when he died.
Speaker 1:Moses chose Israel over Egypt. He chose persecution over the palace. He chose to slay the Passover than to satisfy Pharaoh. You know, he could have made peace with Pharaoh, he could have made up with Pharaoh, but he slayed the Passover lamb and poured the blood on the threshold and splashed the blood on the doorposts with a hyssop and the death angel passed over. I mean he would not compromise, he would not choose Egypt, he would not choose that place.
Speaker 1:He chose persecution, he chose, he chose. That was his act of faith. By an act of faith he chose. We all have a choice and how we choose could either be faith or foolishness, or presumption. He chose God's reward over Egypt's reward. Egypt had a reward Pleasures of sin for a season. He had a reward he could of sin for a season. He had a reward. He could have been the son of Pharaoh, but he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh. He wanted to be named with the name of his people. So he chose his act of faith. So our fathers of faith have illuminated the way for us and for those in the Bible and those in this life. We stand on their shoulders and we live the faith life. Amen. Everybody say I'm living the faith life. Come on, lift your hands and receive the word tonight. Thank you, lord. Did that help you tonight? Want to feed your faith for the last days? We're not in this by ourself, are we Praise God? Thank God for that. We've got a helper and his name is the Holy Ghost. Amen.