Guest Speaker: Travis Jones

who woke up today ready to praise the Lord come on let's praise him for another day let's praise him for the freedom we have going if you're free in this place put your hands together we sing about it today I'm taking off the heaviness, I'm dancing out of my regrets I'm throwing caution to the wind, no I am not ashamed to praise like this Some would say it's foolishness, but I say it's worth the risk I can't forget what Jesus did, no I am not ashamed to praise like this Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free Looking what the Lord has done, I'm never going back to the way I was I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe I'm free, I'm free Thank God I'm free, thank God we're free today We sing, I found a friend that never quits, no other love, no other love's as good as this And I don't care what anyone says, I'll never be ashamed to praise like this Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free Looking what the Lord has done, I'm never going back to the way I was I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe I'm free, I'm free Thank God I'm free You took the cross and you broke your body You shed your blood, now this sinner can't sing My debt is paid and my record is, amen I couldn't do it so you did it for me You took the cross and you broke your body You shed your blood, now this sinner can't sing My debt is paid and my record is, amen I couldn't do it so you did it for me You took the cross and you broke your body And I thank you for it, Jesus

You shed your blood, now this sinner can't sing My debt is paid and my record is, amen I couldn't do it so you did it for me I couldn't do it so you did it for me I couldn't do it so you did it for me I couldn't do it so you did it for me I couldn't do it so you did it for me Cause only God could do it for me Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free Anyone free in this place? My sin is gone, how can I be? I'm free, I'm free So look at what the Lord has done No, I'm never going back to the way I was I'll sing, I'll dance cause I believe I'm free, I'm free Thank God for me You took the cross and you broke your body You shed your blood, now this sinner can't sing My debt is paid and my record is, amen I couldn't do it I couldn't do it so you did it for me You took the cross You took the cross and you broke your body You shed your blood You shed your blood, now this sinner can't sing And my debt is paid My debt is paid and my record is, amen I couldn't do it

I couldn't do it so you did it for me Declare it with me I couldn't do it so you did it for me Are you grateful for what Jesus did? I couldn't do it so you did it for me You set me free and I am in Your love I couldn't do it I couldn't do it so you did it for me Sing, Lord Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was Oh, if you're grateful for freedom in Jesus' name, praise Him! Praise the Lord Church whom the Son sets free is free indeed and if the Son has set you free can you lift your head to give him thanksgiving right here and now Oh Jesus we thank you for freedom we thank you for how you've changed our lives we thank you for salvation that comes only in your name and we declare it's always been about you and always will be we sing today you are pure and holy merciful and true none compared to who you are you're perfect through and through and you are the Messiah the bright and morning star and salvation reaches every soul who welcomes all you are we sing it's all about Jesus Jesus Jesus everything bows before your name it's all about Jesus Jesus Jesus declare it forever and ever God you will reign forever oh we praise you Jesus come on let's sing together you are Lord you are the Messiah the bright and morning star salvation reaches every soul who welcomes all you

are you are welcome it's all about Jesus Jesus Jesus everything bows before your name it's all about Jesus Jesus Jesus forever and ever you will reign it's all about Jesus Jesus Jesus everything bows before your name it's all about Jesus Jesus Jesus forever and ever you will reign you reign you reign over everything Jesus come on would you exalt his name on high he is holy he is righteous oh he is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords all creation joined with heaven as we tell him he's holy you are holy holy Lord God Almighty reigning on heaven's throne you hold the world in your hands you still carry my heart I bow before you Lord you are holy holy Lord God Almighty reigning on heaven's throne you hold the world in your hands you still carry my heart I bow before you Lord we bow before you Jesus cause your name is great and greatly to be praised your name we sing is great and greatly to come on he's worthy of the worship oh your name tell the Lord is great and greatly to be praised your name oh is great yes it is and greatly to be praised anybody come to lift up the name of Jesus today oh he is high and lifted up he is worthy yesterday today and forever church I invite you lift your hands exalt your king Jesus you're worthy worthy you are

worthy you are Worthy, you will be for ever, Yahweh We sing. Worthy you were, Worthy you are forever Worthy, you will be for ever, Yahweh Worthy you are, Worthy you are Worthy, you will be for ever, Yahweh Worthy you were, Worthy among the glory Worthy you will be for ever, Yahweh Worthy you were, Worthy you are Worthy you will be for ever, Yahweh Worthy you were, Worthy you are Worthy you will be for ever, Yahweh Your name is great And greatly to be praised Your name is great And greatly to be praised Your name is great And greatly to be praised Your name is great And greatly to be praised Come on, praise the Lord today! He is worthy! He is worthy! Come on, how many of you know and believe

that our God is worthy of all the praise? Hallelujah! Well, I'm so glad you're here at church with us today. We are family here at Faith Church Orlando. I wanna encourage you, take the next minute, step out of your seats, greet the people around you. Say hello to some new faces today. God bless you, church. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Well, this is the day that the Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it. Is anybody glad to be in the house of God today? Man, we are so glad that all of you are here. And we wanna take a second right now and acknowledge any special guests that we may have with us. If it's your very first time here at Faith, we just want you to know how glad we are that you're here. And we wanna celebrate the fact that you're here, go crazy for you. So if it's your very first time, would you kindly just raise your hand right now all across the room? God bless you here, yes, yes. All over the house and the risers. Yeah, just keep your hand lifted up if you would

until one of our ushers sees you and hands you a booklet. We'd greatly appreciate that. And then also, if you'd do us a favor and just unlock your phone if it's your first time and tap one of the seat backs near you and fill out the connection card there digitally, that would help us out. Get some information from you, and it's a great way for us to connect with you. And then immediately following the service, we invite you to the Connection Hub, which is just right outside these doors past the grand staircase to your left. There you can ask any questions that you have about the church. And we have a lot of things going on throughout the week, a lot of ministries available to you, and we want you to know all about that. So once again, come on, can we put our hands together for our first time guests? God bless you today. Welcome to Faith Church Orlando. Here's a look at upcoming events. Summer is here, and so is another Faith Church merch drop. We're introducing our new Faith Church Orlando soccer jerseys in two color styles, black and gray, and a teal option. And if you missed the spring drop back in March, we're bringing back some of those fan favorites that sold out fast.

The pop-up shop is open in the lobby after service while supplies last. So don't wait too long. Wear your coat. Faith, represent your church family, and we'll see you in the lobby. Exciting things are happening at Faith. Here's a look ahead. We encourage you to connect, grow, serve, and reach here at Faith. So stay connected through the Faith app or our website. Have a blessed week. Well, church, in just a few moments, we're going to give you an opportunity to give, and here at this campus, across all of our locations as well. And one of the things we like to do is highlight a Kingdom Builders partner every month, or a Kingdom Builders project every month. And this month, we're going to invite Doug Hague to come and share what God is doing through the ministry that he's involved with, with Wycliffe, and what God is doing through the ministry with Wycliffe and Bible translations. It's incredible. He and his family have been part of this church for years and years, and have been such a blessing. So can we put our hands together and welcome Doug as he comes to share right now? Good morning, Faith Church Orlando. In 2006, I had a Wycliffe colleague

challenge me to ride a bicycle across the country for Bible translation. I still remember that moment 20 years ago. Something kind of exploded in my mind. And if you were around back then on the Goldenrod campus, you might remember Pastor Carl giving me permission to ride my bike into the sanctuary to share about the audio scripture project for the Kekshi people of Guatemala. That bike ride, and the events that followed, the trip to Guatemala, and so many answered prayers, literally changed my life. There's something very powerful about a fitness goal for a kingdom cause that you're passionate about, that puts your life on mission and gets you out of bed every morning. So whatever the distance you're training, whether it's raining or the weather's bad, you just go and do. And no matter the distance, the effort becomes worship. And one of my favorite quotes in the movie Chariots of Fire, Eric Little, you know it, it's awesome, says, and God made me fast, and when I run, I feel his pleasure. So fast forward many years and a couple of epic bike rides later, I began wondering if I had what it took to run a marathon. And then after I ran my first marathon, I began wondering, I wonder what it would take to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

Now, okay, that's, you know, counting the cost and when you're gonna commit to something. So four years and eight attempts later, I finally qualified with enough margin to make the cut. And seven weeks ago on April 20th, I ran and finished the Boston Marathon for Bible translation. We sponsored the Concomba Translation Project in Northern Togo. So there's a team of Concomba speakers who are translating the first portions of God's word in their language for the first time ever. They're working on currently on eight books of the New Testament and the Jesus film to equip the local community and the local church with resources for evangelism and discipleship. And discipleship, I can't imagine not having God's word in a language that speaks to my heart. I mean, let that thought sink in. God's word does not exist in your language. There's no way to comprehend how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love really is. The same love that he poured out when he sent his own son to die for us. We don't just read or study the Bible to learn more about God. We go to the Bible to experience him there. We meet him there. Oswald Chambers said, if love doesn't carry us beyond ourselves, it isn't really love at all.

And that's why I ran Boston. It was just another way for me to pour out my heart and soul for the things that are the most important in my life. Jesus is everything. God's word and people are precious and eternal. And when love is our motivation, anything is possible. You might find yourself in a place you would have never expected, like the finish line in Boston. And love is what's motivating the Concoma people today to translate the word of God in their own language. Thank you, Faith Church Orlando, for your partnership with Bible translation and for building God's kingdom among the Concoma people. but people. Come on, let's give him one more good hand, amazing. And that specific project that he was referencing, we've committed $15,000 to, and Wycliffe, for the entire year, we've committed $30,000, and so that happens because of your faithful giving in moments like this, and so we are gonna give to the Lord right now, so let's put our hands together one more time. We're a church that loves to give, and so I wanna say thank you for that. You'll see the ways to give on the screen, and we also just talk about two lanes of giving, or two steps to giving.

The first is the tithe, where we return the tithe to the Lord, and that's out of obedience, and then we jump into this step called kingdom builders, and that's out of generosity, and as you give in moments like this, and throughout the week and the months, we're able to fund all of our projects that we set for the calendar year, and support amazing missionaries. I think over 1,200 or 1,300 missionaries now that we support on a monthly basis, which is incredible, and so thank you for giving. What an amazing, worthy cause to help allow the gospel to be presented in someone's native language. What a beautiful thing that is, and we get to be a part of that, and so that's exciting, and I know you wanna be a part of it, and so let's give today. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. God, I thank you for all that you're doing through the people of this church, not only Doug and his family, God, but also the people that are here today across all of our campuses, and I thank you that you can take what we have in our hand,

and you can multiply it, and you can help advance your kingdom and spread the gospel, and that's what we want. God, take this message, take your message, and we want it to reach people. We want lives to be changed as a result of us giving through this great church. We love you, bless this offering today, in Jesus' name. Amen, God bless you as you give. God bless you. Well, praise the Lord, church. I'm gonna invite you to stand to your feet as we continue to celebrate who God is and what he's done in our lives. He's given us great joy, and that joy strengthens us every single day. If you're thankful for it, why don't you clap your hands as we celebrate him. Here we go. This is the day you've made, so I'll rejoice and be glad, rejoice and be glad in it. This is where I believe that you are more than enough, more than enough for me. And you are faithful to your promise.

You are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Sing it out, sing. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. So we bless him. Oh, my soul, bless his name. All that is within me say, the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh, if he's given you joy, why don't you clap your hands? Jesus, come what may. You are worthy. You are worthy of all, worthy of all my praise. You are faithful to your promise. You are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh, yes it is. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh, my soul. Oh, my soul, bless his name. All that is within me say, Did we say the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is our shame. the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh. Oh you've given us great joy God. And we're thankful, yes we are. And we pray today.

Let it rise up like a river, overflowing Holy Spirit. And let it pour out with no limits, overflowing Holy Spirit. Oh let it rise up, let it rise up like a river, overflowing Holy Spirit. Let your joy pour, pour out with no limits, overflowing Holy Spirit. Oh the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. It's more than a feeling, the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh my soul, oh my soul, bless his name. All that is within me. Oh my soul, I will bless the Lord. Oh and all that is within me. Oh my soul, oh bless his name. All that is within me say, the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh oh oh, oh oh oh, we thank you for great joy Lord. You are the joy of our salvation Jesus. Somebody lift up a shout of praise. Oh thank you God. Church, before we rejoice one more time across every location, I just, I want to remind you of something that joy does not come from the outside, joy comes from the inside. And so sometimes we can be maybe somebody singing about joy, we'd be like man I had a rough week and rough weeks happen and that's real. So we're not asking you to find a source of joy from the rough week you've had. What we're saying is that even in the midst of a rough week, I can tap into a joy that's more profound than anything I've ever been walking through. And so now come on, let's let the joy of the Lord with a smile on your face. Come on, lift up praise to heaven.

Jesus, we worship you, we bless you. And we thank you for strengthening us with your joy. Amen, amen. God bless you, you can be seated. Man, y'all sound amazing, you look great today. And I mean that for every single location. Let me welcome our locations quickly. Today joining this service is our Michigan Street Campus, our Red Bug Lake Campus, our Narcoossee Road Campus, today's service also streamed at the Central Florida Reception Center Campus. Now come on across all those locations, you know what we do. Put your hands together, amen. We're grateful for what God is doing at every single location. If you're joining on the screen somewhere else, man, we're so glad that you are. And I just encourage you to lean in to what God is speaking today. I'm telling you, you are in, I mean you're gonna be so glad you are dialed in for this moment and for this service. It's a privilege of mine to introduce our guest speaker, Travis Jones, and his ministry is gonna touch your life. And that's why I want to tell you about this, that on our giving app, and maybe you saw it earlier when you had a moment of worship through giving, but there is a tab on there that says guest speaker. And I just, it's a conviction of mine. I wanna bless Travis Jones and his ministry beyond what even he's expecting. And so I wanna give you an opportunity. Some of you might wanna do it in advance, but I'm just warning you, you're gonna give now and then when he gets done, you're gonna wanna give some more and you're allowed to do that. But I wanna bless his time. So he pastors an incredible church in Richmond, Virginia,

which he planted about eight years ago. That church is exploding, Motivation Church. It is, God is doing incredible things. And Travis says this won't be his first time ever with us. It'll be his first time being with us on a weekend service. But he spoke at our ministry team's conference back in January and just God used him in such a great way. And he is just a friend of mine. I just love spending time with him, and I'm grateful for his ministry. I'm grateful that he took time away from his church to come and pour into Faith Church. And so come on, Faith Church, can we make welcome right now as he comes to preach God's Word? Pastor Travis Jones. What's up, Faith Church? Come on, can we make some noise for Jesus right now? Come on, can we give God some praise? Come on, isn't he a good God today? It's so good to be here, everybody, and what an honor it is to be here at Faith Church, Orlando. I do welcome all the other campuses, and this is truly a circle moment for me. You know, 26 years ago, I was living in Miami, Florida, and we came to Orlando to Faith Church for a fine arts festival. I had the short sermon. It gave me five minutes to preach God's Word, and you can't give a black brother only five minutes to preach. So I went seven minutes. I didn't do good. My youth pastor leaned over to me and said, what are you thinking? I said, I feel like there's a call on my life to preach God's Word. And so I want to thank God that this is the house where I receive my calling, and so it is so good to be back at Faith Church, Orlando. And you know, you see the remnants of this house all over the country, the leaders that's gone through this church, the people that's been sent from this place, and all over the world, your impact. And so truly, thank you for being a model church. Thank you for giving. Thank you for serving. Thank you for leading. Thank you for attending. Thank you for not just leaving when the last amen is said, but you're involved, and you're meeting people. And so grateful to be here today, everybody. And I know you know this, but I hope that you never get used to what God is doing here at Faith Church, Orlando. And if I was you, and if I was you, I would just be so grateful for this house. And

I was just thinking about it as I was driving here today from the hotel. I'm like, man, if I was the devil, I would make y'all so comfortable or used to your pastors. And you get used to, you can get really used to good leadership and faithful leadership. And there's something about Pastor Johnny and Jamie, it just, they're not only their prophetic voice, but also their prophetic leadership. You see, it's really easy to have a prophetic voice where you can speak on behalf of God, but it's really a different level when you can prophetically lead and set other people up to win. And that's what you have in your pastors. And so could you give it up for your pastors today, everybody? Thank you. Thank you. Well, I do have a word. Anybody ready to hear from what God's word today, everybody? Come on, y'all didn't come here to hear from me. I have a word and it's found in the book of Hebrews chapter 11. I wanna, my goal today is to strengthen your faith. I'm not sure where you are in your journey with God, but my goal today is I think God's heart is to strengthen your faith to get you to believe in again. And so Hebrews chapter 11, I'm gonna read us just a small verse and found in the seventh verse. And it says this, it says, by faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen in holy fear, he built an ark to save his family. And by faith, everybody say by faith and by his faith, he, he condemned the world and he became an heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. And today I wanna, I wanna teach on the subject, the faith to build, the faith to build. Let's pray. Father, we pray in the name of Jesus that you may speak your word to us, God. Lord, we, we just, we are at the edge of our seats knowing that you are so faithful to always speak to your people. And so God, we just pray that you just make clearly tell us what you want us to hear. And Lord, Father, we're excited to hear from you today in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen, amen. Well, again, it's such an honor to be here. And you know, we're in the middle, kind of almost in the middle of the year. We got a, we got a few more weeks and then we are at the middle of the calendar year. And I know that many of us, uh, we start. every year with all type of big goals and New Year's resolutions, and it's around this time where the hype of them is now officially dead. You know, like the goals that you officially had, you know, they wane off in February, March,

whatever, you still try, but around this time, this is when it's all gone. You know, like I had goals to, this was gonna be the year where I'm not gonna look at food like comfort, I'm gonna look at food like fuel. That's what my goal this year. Completely dead, everybody, come on, somebody. I love me a cheese steak, come on, I just, I'm right at the service, I'm going to pull your chopper cow, I want the rice, I want the chicken, I want the whole cheap family meal they offer to you, you know, like I want the whole thing, right? It's completely dead. And this is around the time where a lot of times our faith in what we believe for certain things, and so it is my heart that today that you can be inspired and that you can have a strong faith with God, because here's what I believe, that faith is not just your confidence in God, but faith is your connection with God. Like, you know, when someone asks you how's your faith, you know, it's, we should be answering like, hey, I'm connected with God, and also I have high confidence in God. I don't just believe in God, but I actually believe God. And so like, God always wants us to have a strong faith, because by the way, the promises of God

that he has for your life only will come through the realm of faith. In fact, God needs your faith so that he can move in your life, so that he can do his work in your life, he operates in the context of faith. In fact, the doorway that God enters your life is the doorway of faith, and this is why it is so imperative for you and I as the believer that we operate in faith. And so our passage that we're studying today is found in Hebrews chapter 11, but the hinge point verse that we must understand and know for the context of our particular passage of scripture is actually found in Hebrews chapter 10. In Hebrews chapter 10, verse 38, it says this, but the just shall live by faith. He begins to tell us the writer of the book of Hebrews who was writing and addressing Christian believers like most of you and I in this room, and he was talking to them, and he was telling them that for those of us who have been justified by faith, for those of us who have now experienced the power of God and the working of salvation within our soul and our soul has been regenerated and we are walking through sanctification, and as a result of that, the way we live is that we live by faith.

And so what he does is that he gives us practical examples of what a life of faith should look like because we need to live by faith. Notice that the text in Hebrews 10 does not say that we live just with faith, but we live by faith. There's a significant difference between you living with faith and you living by faith. You see, when you live with faith, that means that you believe in something that you possess, but if you live by faith, that means that the lens through which you make every decision by. You see, a person can live with faith and still be controlled with fear. A person can live with faith and still trust their bank account more than the promises of God. A person can live with faith and still require visible evidence before you obey God. But a person who lives by faith allows the word of God to become the primary influence in which we make our choices. Today, can I introduce to you about a lifestyle of living by faith? A scuba diver can have an oxygen tank on his back, and a person on life support can have an oxygen tank as well. The scuba diver uses the oxygen when oxygen is needed, but a person that's on life support

uses the oxygen to live. God says that we are to live by faith, on faith. Why? Because the promises of God that he has for you and your family and your household and your calling and your future and your church only comes through the realm of faith. So this is why the enemy wants to attack our faith. This is why. because he knows that it means that when we live by faith, we trust God's character when we cannot trace his hand in our lives. You see, we obey God's word before we see God results in our lives. We move based on God's promises rather than our circumstance. We evaluate our lives on what God said and not merely by what we see with our eyes. This is the life as the believer that we are to use. And if I was the devil, I would attack your faith because if I can attack your faith, then I can prohibit you from walking in the promises that God has over your life. No matter who you are in this room today, God has a plan and a promise over your life. Can I get an amen? Somebody. You see, what I'm learning just over time is that the enemy loves to attack our faith and God wants us to have a strong faith

because that's how he moves. Just recently, anyone who knows me and you wanna get me distracted, just give me a good conspiracy theory, everybody. Come on, somebody. I'm watching all type of YouTube videos. I'm believing all type of stuff. I believe that there's an alien invasion happening right now as we speak. I mean, I love a good conspiracy theory. I love space. I love just different stuff and maybe it distracts me from my chaotic world. And so about a month and a half ago, there was something that distracted a lot of us conspiracy theories people and it was the Artemis II. It's where we sent four astronauts around the moon. It was the furthest that any human had been in space. I was glued to the television. I was watching every broadcast about it. I was just doing a countdown. I was texting my wife like, they're around the moon right now. It's just like, I don't care right now. And so like we're watching, I was watching the broadcast. And so I was watching the broadcast and one of the broadcasters asked the expert of space science a question where I'm surprised that I'd never asked myself this question. And the broadcaster said,

I thought about that. Some of y'all said, some of y'all already know the answer, but I didn't know this. And I began to question, why is space so dark? You know, like when we have daylight, like you have outside right now, the sun is shining and we can see the effects of the sun. But when the sun goes down, it's dark. Why is it always dark in space? And I thought about that. And I began to question, why is space so dark? You know, like when we have daylight, like you have outside right now, why is space so dark in space? Well, the expert laughed and expert, this was like chuckling at the immature question, which I thought was a deep question. And the expert simply said, because space is nothing. It has no matter. And in order for you to see the effects of the sun, there has to be matter. See the atmosphere in which you and I live here on earth is filled with particles and matter. But in space, it is a empty void. So therefore, although the sun is always in space, you never see the effects of the sun because it needs matter. And I simply believe this, that if we want to see the effects

of the son of God in our lives, we got to bring something to the table so that he can reflect off our lives. And that is what faith is. Faith is us bringing matter to empty void. So this is why the writer of the book of Hebrews says that the just shall live by faith because we're bringing something to the table so that God can move in our lives like never before. In fact, if you're here today and you don't see the activity of God in your life, that is God is waiting on you to bring something to the table. Which leads me to our text that we're studying today is found in Hebrews 11. And so what the writer of Hebrews does is that he gives us all type of biblical examples of what this faith should look like. You know, he takes us on a biblical scavenger hunt and he takes us to Abraham and Rahab and Moses. But then he also takes us to a builder named Noah. Noah is just a man that was blameless before God. He was called into a corrupt culture, a culture that was so far from God. And the Lord speaks to Noah. And as a result, in Genesis chapter six, and tells Noah, Noah, I'm about to send rain to the earth. And before I send the rain, I'm gonna need you to build an ark. and to prepare so that the whole world

won't be completely destroyed. And so Noah obeys. And so the writer of Hebrews 11 says, hey, if you really wanna know what faith is, if you really wanna know what it looks like, come follow me to Noah. So let's look at Noah today, Genesis chapter six. And he begins to tell us about this life that Noah lives. And the first point that we get from Noah's life in Genesis six is simply this, that faith builds before it sees. God called Noah to build an ark before there was a drop of rain. In fact, they had not seen rain in several decades. They didn't know what rain felt like and what it looked like. They didn't know the idea of a storm coming. They had no concept of rain, and yet God still called them and called Noah to build an ark. Why? Because real faith knows how to build what God tells us to build before we see what God's telling us to build for. He said, this is why there was no rain in the forecast, there was no blueprint that was precedent, there was no public support, and God asked Noah to build something that had never been seen or done before. And can I tell you, when God gives you a word

and when God tells you to build something, God's telling us to do something in a season that sometimes does not match the word. You see, what I'm learning is that we are all builders, no matter who you are here today, if you have faith in God and if you wanna live a life of faith and sing the promises of God, congratulations, you are all builders. We are called to build, and God called Noah to build something before he can see it. And one of the things I love about this building project that God gives Noah is that God tells Noah, I want you to use this type of wood, I need the ark to be this length, this high, this wide, this amount of doors, this amount of levels. He gave them the details of the window, he gave them details of every aspect of the ark. He began to tell them, it's time to build something. You see, God always gives you plans for your building project. And I just wanna kinda maybe stop and pause and let you know that God always gives you a word that sometimes don't match your season. Sometimes God's called you to live a pure life where it makes no sense why you're living a pure life. Sometimes God's called you to build a strong family and a strong marriage, and you don't know what you're building it for.

Sometimes God calls you to deepen your prayer life, and you don't know why you're deepening your prayer life. Sometimes God calls you to step out in faith, in leadership, and you have no idea. Sometimes God calls you to leave something or come into something or stay somewhere, and we have no idea because most of the time, God's word does not match your season. And so oftentimes, we read about this text, in fact, thinking about Jeremiah chapter 29, 11, when God spoke to the people of Israel through the prophet Jeremiah, and God told the people of God, hey, I got plans for you. And these plans, they're good plans, plans that's gonna prosper you, plans that give you a hope and a future. But if you look at when they heard that word about God having good plans for them, their life was not good. In fact, they were oppressed, they were depressed, they were captured, and they were so far away from God's word and his good plans, but yet you gotta hold on to the word that God gives you even if it doesn't match your season. What I'm learning is that sometimes we disqualify God's word over our lives because it don't look like the season where the word has been given to us, and God says, that's what real faith looks like. You see, over time, we will begin to see

that God's plans are more like his preferences, or maybe some scholars, they call it his preferred will, meaning that God's desire, God wanted Noah to build the ark, God told him what to do, God gave Noah the blueprint, but God didn't build the ark. Like, I, you know, there's been several times in my life where I'm questioning God's activity in my life. Like, God, why aren't you doing the building? Like, I want God to give me the plan, tell me what type of wood to use, tell me how big the ark should be, and I want God to build it. But can I tell you, church, God gives blueprints. You do the building. And oftentimes we are waiting on God to build something and God says, I am waiting on you to pick up a hammer, to pick up an ax, and to go to that forest and to start chopping down some wood and to start to construct this ark that I'm giving you. You see, some of us, like we understand that God gave us the blueprint of what family looks like, what marriage looks like, but you are to build it. God gives us the blueprint of what a financial success looks like and we're waiting on God to provide this miracle check in the mail and God says, I'm waiting on you to build a proper budget so that I can move in your life. Can I get an amen, somebody?

What we see oftentimes is that oftentimes we are waiting on God to do the building and God says, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want you to be a participator in the miracle of God that's in your life. I want you to be an active builder in the miracle of God that's in your life and oftentimes we are waiting for God to do something and God says, I've already given you the blueprint, aka my word over your life. You see, what I've learned is that his preferred will is him inviting us to be participators in the move of God in our own lives. You see, your participation of building is God's indication that you believe the word that you received. And so what Noah does is that Noah gives him an insight of okay, now Noah is ready for me to move in his life and so the writer of Hebrews 11 says to the church of Faith Church Orlando, that's what faith is. Faith is building before you see it. Secondly today is simply this, that faith knows how to build under pressure. It knows how to build under pressure. Most scholars says that it took either from 75 to 120 years to build this ark. Could you imagine how long that is? I mean, that is so long. I mean, this after year five, year 10, year 25

and Noah is constantly going to the forest, chopping down wood, coming back and building this ark in front of his home, in front of his family, in front of his wife. My wife loves me and supports me but when it hit about year 25, she would look at me like I'm crazy y'all, come on. Like I love you brother but like did you sure you heard from God? And oftentimes when it comes to building faith, it's built with a lot of pressure and some of you are under pressure right now. Maybe financial pressure, maybe relational pressure, maybe cultural pressure and maybe you're here today and everything doesn't look good. Maybe you received some bad news or someone passed away unexpectedly. There was a diagnosis that came out of nowhere. Maybe you're under financial strain today. Today I'm not here to say that building is easy and that faith building is really easy but here I'm here to say that if we are to emulate the faith of Noah, Noah knew how to build while he was under pressure and I just wanna encourage somebody here today that don't drop the hammer, don't drop the ax in the building construction that God has over your life just because you experienced a little resistance.

Don't drop the hammer, don't drop the ax just because you experienced a little setback in your life today. I'm not sure who's here, maybe you're a student, maybe a high school student, maybe a college student today, don't drop the ax. If you're an empty nester, don't drop the ax because there's no season in our lives that the ax should not be in our hands. We are all called to be builders no matter who you are, no matter where you are, no matter where you come from, we are all builders today. I want you to notice something about Noah's faith is that the Bible says in Genesis chapter six verse eight that Noah, guess what he did? He found favor with God. He found favor with God. Now, it did not say that Noah, because he was blameless, he earned favor with God. That would be inconsistent what favor is because favor is something that we don't deserve. The favor of God. is when we walk through doors that we don't belong to walk through. Like the favor of God is when God connects us with people that we don't deserve to be connected with. The favor of God puts microphones on our hands, put titles in front of our names. The favor of God can really move like we've never seen before in our lives.

We love the favor of God. Anybody love the favor of God today? And the Bible says that Noah found favor with God. And so when I read that text, the next question that I have is, where is that? I wanna know exactly where this favor is at because whatever Noah and wherever he found it, I'm going to look for it at the same place. And can I tell you where is that? It is found in the house of obedience. If you really wanna find God's favor, be faithful to obey him even when it don't look good. If you really wanna find God's favor in your life, just be faithful how to do family the right way, do marriage the right way, do your finances the right way. If you really wanna find favor in the eyes of God, just begin to serve his church when no one looking. When you really wanna find favor in the eyes of God, just begin to be consistent in obeying God in your generosity, in your giving, in your sacrifice, in your serving. Just be faithful to obey and watch you find something called favor. And it comes out of nowhere. It's like, God, where does this come from? It comes from you being faithful day after day. Noah going to the forest, chopping down wood, day after day, year after year, decade after decade. Literally, he kept going and showing up to the obedience party and as a result, he found it.

It came out of nowhere. It was just out of nowhere, just favor with God. Can I tell you today, church, that when you find this favor, it changes everything about your life? You see, Noah found this favor. And what's interesting enough is that the favor that Noah received, sometimes favor is not just a check in the mail or a promotion out of nowhere, sometimes favor is what Noah got. He got insight to a future that the rest of the world didn't have insight to. Sometimes, God's favor is a word from God. So, like, he found favor in the eyes of God and as a result, God said, hey, Noah, come here. Let me tell you about something. I want you to build an ark because I'm not gonna tell you the timing, but I'm gonna send the rain. And here's how large I want you to build an ark. Here's how I want you to do it because when the rain comes, you and your family will be saved. And so, sometimes, the greatest thing that God can do for you is to give you and I a word. Because I can only imagine in year 10, year 20, year 30, year 40, year 50, year 60, the only thing that Noah got to stand on is a word from God. And I know that some of you all are here today and your situation does not look like the promises of God over your life, but sometimes, there are some season

where all you can stand on, come on, somebody, is a word from God. I know my world is falling apart, but God said that he has good plans for me. I know things are not looking good right now, but God says that his plans are a hope and a future for me. I know my world seem like it's dark and depressed, but I thank God that my God will be my sufficient, confident, I thank God right now that although my world seems like it is not going my way, I am standing on the word that God gave me, that I will be the head and not the tail, that I will be above and not beneath. And sometimes, all you have to stand on is a word. Is there anybody here today say, you know what, I got a word to stand on, that my God will come through with his word, the Bible says that his word never returns void, so I can stand with such confidence in the word of God. And that's what Noah had to stand on because that's all he had in all those decades of building this ark. Sometimes you gotta just come back and say, I got a word from God. I remember when we started our church eight years ago, so we're church plant, and six months into our church plant, the middle school that we're meeting in says, hey, this is crazy, there's too many people. You got too much haze, and you're setting off fire alarms. Like, y'all got to go. And so we had to find a building pretty fast, so there was this old Big Lots building,

storefront building that we saw, and, like, I said, let's just go forward. And so we went forward somehow, some way, the banks and everybody approved for us to get into this building, and so we did a full building, a build-out. We were only six months old as a church, and so we emptied out the bank account. All the team emptied out their savings accounts. I mean, we went all in. I mean, we went all into this building project, and so it was amazing. We had built, like, this auditorium. We got kids' ministry, a big mega lobby for people to gather. It was great, but we kind of ran out of money towards the end of the project, and we were three weeks out, and we didn't have any bathroom stalls. And so my wife had been telling me, hey, Travis, you're going to have to tell these people we can't launch this building on Easter because we're going to do it on Easter Sunday, and she said, tell the people that we cannot launch. We need some more time because we got to kind of raise some money for some bathroom stalls. I had asked for every favor up to that point. I had no more favors to ask. I mean, every church and pastor I knew I asked for, they blessed us with it,

but we were completely out of favors, out of money, and we was having a dream team night, a service team night, and she says, hey, tell them that we're not launching in three weeks. So I looked at her. I didn't say yes. I just looked at her. I got on the stage, and something, the Holy Ghost came upon me. I said, church, we're going to be a church without walls and a church without stalls. Come on, somebody. I was stupid. I was stupid, but I stood on that stage because I just knew that there was a vision that God gave me on Easter Sunday. Let's open up our doors, and we did open up our doors on Easter Sunday. We had Pipe and Draper stalls. Come on, somebody. A couple weeks later, I was able to get some stalls, but I say that to say that some of you, you probably need to have that type of moment of faith where you look at your situation. You got to remind yourself of God's Word that's over your life, God's promises that's over your life because Noah found favor with God because faith knows how to build under pressure,

but what I also love about faith is that faith knows how to build for more than just who you are. Faith builds for more than just you. That's what faith is all about. You see, we think that faith is just about improving our lives. Oh, no. Notice, we never see Noah's kids ever recorded in scripture that they went to the forest, chopped down trees, and built this ark, but yet they got to enjoy the benefits of Noah's labor because real faith doesn't only just build something for who we are. We're constructing something so that other people can be blessed. This is why I love this church, by the way. I love this church. This is why I love Faith Church Orlando because Faith Church Orlando is not just about this house and this city. What you all are building, other people will be blessed because of you give and because where you serve and because how you lead, because all of the staff and the worship and the production and the kids' ministry workers, and because of what you do, there's gonna be a world outside of these doors that you're gonna open up your doors

and people are gonna hear the gospel for the first time. You are funding the Bible being translated in different languages. Why? Because the ark is a representation of what Christ will be for you and I. Christ literally will be the ark in which we stand on, that we live in when the second coming of Christ comes and judgment hits the earth and hits the world. You and I's life are gonna be saved because we have been washed and covered by the blood of the lamb. And this is why I love this house because you are standing at the doors of your ark and your doors are wide open. You are welcoming all type of people here, black people, white people, young and old and empty nesters and teenagers, and you don't care where they come from. You don't care what their background looks like. Why? Because the gospel has no prerequisite. Come on, somebody. This is why I love this house. This is why we have faith. Can I tell you that? You're building something for more than just you. This is why you gotta build that strong family. You gotta build that marriage for those that are in here in this place today

and your marriage is going through a tough time. Can I tell you, keep on building. Keep building. on fighting, your marriage is weak. Here's why, because you're building something more than just the two of you. No, no, the generations are at stake here. The reason why you serve and you go all in, you don't just leave, but you're just all in here at God's house. Why? Because we're building something so that other people can experience God. That's the faith that Hebrews 11 is pointing to. You see, what I also know is that faith knows how to stand when the culture sits. And Noah, he stood when the culture sat. You see, faith knows how to prepare for what's coming. I'm reminded of how the Chinese farmers, how they plant a certain type of bamboo tree. This particular bamboo tree, what the farmer does is that he plants it and nothing really happens up front. Nothing happens, like it's just there. They water it every day. They fertilize it every day. They care for it every day. And after one year, nothing happens. After two years, nothing happens. After three years, four years, nothing happened.

Then on the fifth year, something special begins to happen. It begins to sprout out the ground. And in just a few weeks, the bamboo tree can grow more than 80 feet tall in the air. The question is, did it grow 80 feet in those few weeks? Oh no, it had been growing underneath the surface for several years. You see, for four years, it was developing a root system strong enough to support the growth that was coming. You see, some of you think that nothing is happening with your consistent faith, with your Noah faith. You showing up to the forest, cutting down trees, being obedient, coming to church, praying to God, serving and giving and reading your word and loving your family. And it seems like nothing has happened. And you've been praying and you've been giving and you've been obeying and you've been building and you're wondering if God has forgotten about you. But maybe God isn't growing, just growing your, he's growing your root system so that it can handle what God is about to bring within your fruit system. See, maybe heaven sees progress and earth sees nothing. And you are just planted here today because just because you can't see growth doesn't mean God isn't growing something in your life.

Can I get an amen, Faith Church? All right, I'm done, but I gotta tell you something. I was, I grew up a lot in Nassau, Bahamas. That's where my family's from. And so my grandparents were pastors. And so we sat under the teaching of the late, great Dr. Myles Monroe. And I'll never forget, we went to a service. We went to a service of his and it was a Pentecostal service, y'all, come on. I mean, I'm talking about flags everywhere, everybody. You need to do the matrix to dogs, the flags, y'all. Come on, like flags everywhere. Tamarines everywhere, y'all. I mean, the shout was loud. And I mean, it was a melodramatic moment. If you can ever imagine Pentecost, I'm surprised they didn't have snakes, but it was almost there. Come on, somebody. So it was a Pentecostal service. I was in seventh grade and Dr. Myles Monroe, he walked on, he walked on the stage real calm. He was so calm and everybody's shouting. He walked on stage and he says to the musicians, silence. And he just calmed the moment down. And here's what he says. I thought he's gonna say something really crazy about faith. And he says, let me teach you something about faith. Strong faith is long faith.

You see, strong faith is not like the moments where you're like, oh yeah, I'm going all in for God. I'm excited for God. I'm gonna sell everything I have and just go in for the gospel. No, no, no, no, that's not strong faith. Strong faith is when you can do something consistently, obedience over time and see no results and keep on showing up to praise God and keep on showing up to church and keep on serving. Come on, and keep on building. Come on, that's strong faith. Strong faith is long faith. And what the writer of Hebrews 11 is doing to put a full circle to the text today, the writer is saying, hey, I need you to have some strong faith. And strong faith is long faith. It is consistently praising God, even when you don't feel like praising God. It is consistently giving to God. Even when you don't feel like giving to God. It is consistently serving to God even when you don't feel like serving. It is consistently sacrificing and showing up for people and loving people and Picking up your axe and chopping the wood so that you could be who God's called you to be Can I get an amen faith church? Come on. Would you stand to your feet today? Come on, could you give God a hand clap of praise that he is so worthy to be praised. Come on somebody Come on Can you give God a shout of praise right now that he is so worthy of the praise that every word that he has spoken over You is yes, and amen. You will see the promises of God. God will visit your family and one day the rain is gonna come and

Here's what I know about rain rain is bad news For people that don't have seed in the ground But when their seed in the ground Come on, Noah's like I've been waiting for this moment. And can I tell you right now? The rain is hovering over faith Church, Orlando. Do you believe it today everybody? Come on You've been sowing seeds You've been sending out leaders to missionaries and I'm believing by the power of Jesus Christ that you're about to see the rain Like you've never seen before. Come on. Could you give God one more hand clap of praise everybody? God bless you Church Amen I don't know about you, but I'm about ready to go I'm ready to have some faith to see God do some amazing things. I thank you. Listen that there are times when a Prophetic and a right now word comes for a church. I just believe that today is one of those days I want you to own this in in your own life Because it doesn't get processed as a church if you don't process it as individuals You are the church and as we process this and what does God want us to do with this as individuals? That's when then God does something with us collectively and I'm gonna boldly ask you again. Don't forget to just bless Travis Pastor Travis in his ministry and you can do that on our giving app But listen, I'm gonna pray for you that God would let this word just take root in our life as I pray our prayer team is gonna be up here at the dismissal of service and some of you might need to take a step of Faith today and maybe somebody here needs to come back to Christ maybe somebody if you feel like your life is just Underraveling and you need just to take a step of faith to have somebody pray with you and see God do a miracle But I want you to know that when when we pray you can make your way to this front But let me pray for you now Father Thank you for your word and I thank you God that we not just hear your word but God we can be doers of this and so God let this word take root in us as Individuals where does our faith need to be built? And I just thank you for a long faith. I thank you God for Consistent faith and I pray blessing upon each and every person Lord if we need to respond today I just pray God help us give us the strength to see you do a miracle in our lives We bless you. We love you in Jesus name

Amen, amen, listen, if you won't come and spend a moment in prayer, God bless you. Have a wonderful week