The writer tells us in v39 that these people were in a worse situation than Christians. Scott quoted the Bible Speaks Today on this passage, and I thought I would share a slightly extended version of the quote here:<\/p>\n
In this passage the reader is confronted with both the courageous achievements and the imperfect attainments of the Old Testament heroes. They were enabled to do so much, but it was limited and partial. They inherited, received, obtained and proved the promises. But in some cases it was mainly a sense of expectancy and lifelong anticipation which characterized their faith. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did not receive all that was promised (11:13); the fulfilment was not theirs to see, but they endured. Similarly, Christians receive some promises and experience their blessings, whilst at the same time they trust other promises and await their fulfilment. But we have received far more than any believer could have hoped to experience under the old covenant. They could not hope to experience personally the inward purification, freedom from fear, immediate help, timely grace, present and eternal salvation, certain hope, clear conscience, assured pardon and constant access1 which we have in Christ. The richer provision ought surely to inspire us to better faith and more costly sacrifice. If these courageous and devout sufferers achieved so much when, comparatively speaking, they had so little, then there must be no limit to our service. The opportunities are innumerable and the resources are limitless.<\/p>\n
Raymond Brown and Raymond Brown, The Message of Hebrews : Christ Above All, The Bible speaks today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., U.S.A.: Inter-Varsity Press, 1988), 224-25.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2011\/07\/IMG_0262.jpg\")
\nThe original readers were responding appropriately and giving their lives for the gospel. The early disciples were killed often. Down the ages men and women have responded to these Scriptures with faith and courage.<\/p>\n
There were many heroes over the years, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Owen, and many others who have benefited the church. They have lived wholeheartedly. This persevering faith will look different for each of us, but it will always be characterised by faith inspired courage.<\/p>\n
1.\tIf you believe in God, you have this faith. But you live in a world that will do all it can to stop you in your tracks. <\/strong><\/p>\nLife is tough. Difficulty and hardship and pain will come. It will keep happening whether you persevere or allow yourself to get deviated.<\/p>\n
Things that are prone to discourage and pacify you:
\n<\/strong>
\na.\tPain<\/strong> Disappointments, and people close to you can cause pain. We can tend to shrink back. In some ways it\u2019s worse than the second one because it doesn\u2019t seem to be directly related to the gospel work we are doing. If we let circumstances hold us back from the purpose God has for us it is not living the life Hebrews wants for us.
\nb.\tPersecution<\/strong> There can be direct opposition.
\nc.\tPartial vision<\/strong>. Where there is an unclear future. We can be hamstrung if we don\u2019t know where we are meant to go.
\nd.\tPerplexity<\/strong> We sometimes thing if we don\u2019t understand we cant keep going.
\ne.\tParochial perspective<\/strong>. We think our life is all that matters. We think comfort is all that matters. Materialism gets ahold of us.
\nf.\tPersonal sin<\/strong> Joseph and Moses overcame in this area. As we sin we get held up in the purposes of God. Jesus has paid for our sin, and given us the power to overcome sin. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2011\/07\/IMG_0328.jpg\")
We can be all that God has designed us to be no matter what has gone before. Each of the heroes of faith had failures<\/strong>. All of them faltered. In every saint is found something that is not of God. We need not allow even our failure to sidetrack us.<\/p>\n2.\tGod wants our faith to be expressed in courageous lives lived for his glory.<\/strong><\/p>\nHebrews 11:6 gives us a pattern to live by. We must believe that God exists, and that he rewards those who seek him! Identity of who God is and who we are in him. We are not after the fruit as much as we are after being rooted in God. If you get your identity right you will be fruitful<\/strong>. A tree doesn\u2019t really have to try to grow fruit, it just soaks in the goodness in the soil.<\/p>\nAs we take time to be still and know that He is God, the dynamite is ignited. There is no other short cut. We do not preach a works-based gospel. God loves obedience. It will never come from the law, or our ideas and good intentions. The obedience God is after comes from faith (Romans 1:6). We must bask in God and his sovereignty. He will make everything right. He will restore all things. He is unstoppable. When we see who he is. Jesus is the only one who when he died did not remain in the grave! <\/strong>We can know him.<\/p>\nWe must know that God\u2019s way is the best.<\/strong> Seek him first and all things will be added to us.\u00a0We must diligently seek him. Find out what his will is and do it. <\/strong> God will put urges and desires into your heart. We must just say, \u201cI want to live my life for you!\u201d Go with your heart. If you want God\u2019s glory, then follow your heart.<\/p>\n3.\tWe have a massive opportunity today to live for the glory of God.<\/strong>
\nWe can do this because we have faith. We are at a moment when we can live courageously for God in a unique way. There are loads of challenges and uncertainty and pain ahead. Jesus promised that. But he has overcome the world. Joni says \u201cthis is the only part of history where I get to fight. . . This is my limited window of opportunity and I am going to fight with all my heart.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"So it begins! We started as always with worship. It was a wonderful time in the presence of God. There was a real rise in faith. The enthusiasm, especially as we sang \u201cYou Alone Can Rescue\u201d was electric. How wonderful to worship with thousands of charismaniacs! Scott took us to Hebrews 11. You can listen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hebrews","category-toam11"],"yoast_head":"\n
TOAM: Session 1 Scott Marques on Courageous Faith (Hebrews 11)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So it begins! We started as always with worship. It was a wonderful time in the presence of God. There was a real rise in faith. The enthusiasm,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/07\/toam-session-1-scott-marques-on-courageous-faith-hebrews-11\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TOAM: Session 1 Scott Marques on Courageous Faith (Hebrews 11)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So it begins! We started as always with worship. It was a wonderful time in the presence of God. There was a real rise in faith. 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Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience sustain us over a lifetime of change. These are the themes I explore in my books and in the articles I have written for Patheos since 2003. My writing draws on my scientific training as a doctor and psychiatrist, my work in the UK's National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, alongside more than twenty-five years as a member of a growing church where I served on the leadership team offering pastoral care. My perspective has also been shaped by chronic illness since 2017, when I developed life-threatening pneumonia that caused lasting damage to my body, triggered several further conditions, and uncovered a diagnosis of blood cancer. This was successfully treated, although doctors expect it to return in the future. Out of these experiences I founded Blood Cancer Uncensored, an online patient-led support community. 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I am the author of the Transformed by Jesus: Spiritual Renewal series of books, which ask: \u2192 What does Jesus\u2019 resurrection mean for you? Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything https:\/\/mybook.to\/raisedwithchrist \u2192 Why is change so difficult? What causes the resistance? The Traitor Within: Understanding and Healing Our Deceitful Hearts https:\/\/mybook.to\/traitorwithin \u2192 \u2028Why is change so slow? How does grace lead us over a lifetime? Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart https:\/\/mybook.to\/amazinggrace \u2192 \u2028\u2028How do you become a Christian? How do you know if you really are one? Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus https:\/\/mybook.to\/hope-reborn These books bring together medical, psychological, social, and faith-based insights, advocating for a biopsychosocial\u2013spiritual model of wellbeing. My qualifications and training reflect this integrated background: \u2192 British MB BS medical degree (equivalent to an MD in the USA) \u2192 Postgraduate qualifications in Psychiatry (MRCPsych) and Pharmaceutical Medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed) \u2192 Theological training courses run by Newfrontiers","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianwarnock"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/author\/awarnock\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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So it begins! We started as always with worship. It was a wonderful time in the presence of God. There was a real rise in faith. The enthusiasm, especially as we sang \u201cYou Alone Can Rescue<\/em>\u201d was electric. How wonderful to worship with thousands of charismaniacs!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2011\/07\/CJ%252520TOAM%2525201.jpg\")
<\/p>\n