Greek  Hebrews 11:1 estin de pistiV elpizwmenon `upostasiV pragmatwnelegcoV ou blepomenwn.    

Latin  Est autem fides sperandorum substantia rerum argumentum non parentum.

American Standard   Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.

Revised Standard   NOW FAITH is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 

Simple English   Faith is the title-deed  to the things we hope for. Faith is being sure of things we cannot see.

Young’s   And faith is of things hoped for a confidence, of matters not seen a conviction,

Douay Rheims   Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.

World English   Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.

New Jerusalem  Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of realities that are unseen.

Weymouth’s  Now faith is a well-grounded assurance of that for which we hope, and a conviction of the reality of things which we do not see.

 KJV 11:1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  2.  For by it the elders obtained a good report.  3.  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of El, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.  6.  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to Elohim must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

 

Rearrangement of 11:1

   Faith!  With it, we seek Yahweh and are rewarded in many outstanding ways.  Without it, it’s impossible to please him.  But what is faith?  Let’s see.

   Two words in Hebrews 11:1 are very solid: substance and evidence.  Substance “has mass and occupies space.”  Evidence is “something plainly visible.”  Another word, hope, is “the desire and search for a future good.”  We hope for something every single day.  The unknown quantity in our new verse is “the unseen” – speaking of real things, though invisible.  

   Now we rearrange the whole thing to learn about faith. 

 

“Substantial things seen, through hope, make the unseen plainly visible.”

 

That makes sense!  Faith is never blind unless it’s blinded by hopelessness, and even when it’s hopeless, we can still make out the shadow of the unseen through the promise – “I will never leave nor forsake you” (John 14:18) for “when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is” (1 John 3:2).

 

Just This Week

   It’s the transformation from hope to faith to sight that we’re concerned with today.  Consider the possibilities.  Through faith in the Father, dreams and visions become reality.  The hopelessly broken become whole.  The impoverished and destitute become rich in faith.  The morally and spiritually bankrupt inherit the kingdom of heaven.  You and I have our prayers gloriously answered.  And through faith, peace may even reign on the earth.

   Greater than our own personal desires are the good works we might accomplish for the whole world – through faith.  Consider this: in this last week alone, so many places specifically mentioned in Bible prophecy were in the news (writing April 27^th, 2004) – major house-to-house battles in Babylon, terrorists assassinated in Gaza, suicide bombings in Arabia, nuclear weapons in Persia, powerful car bombings in Damascus, a plot to use chemical weapons in Amman.  Now we hear mullahs call from minarets all over Europe for Europe’s twelve million Muslims to rise up and divert the course of western civilization away from the cross toward the crescent. 

   Friends, do you hear what I’m saying?  All these prophetic events happened in the last week.  We’re engaged in a religious world war pitting the false prophet against the true.  We’re called into the fray on the side of peace.  Real miracles of faith are required.  In fact, at no other time in history has faith in Yahweh been so critical – and a people of faith with a common global outlook so essential.

   Our friend Simon Peter tells us that every believer has a measure of precious faith on par with that of the Apostles (2 Peter 1:1).  There’s no lack of faith, only ignorance of how to apply it for the salvation of a groaning creation.  Prayers of great magnitude are answered when Elohimly requests are properly formulated in the mind and fully incubated in the heart.  Here are a couple biblical examples of faithful prayers answered.

 

Examples Of Things Hoped For Becoming Things Seen

   On the small scale, consider the bloody woman in Mark 5:25-30.  She lives as an outcast not because she’s dangerous or contagious, but because she’s ritually unclean.  If she hadn’t the burning desire to be clean, she wouldn’t have spent all her living on physicians.  At some time, she conscientiously decides that if she can only touch Yahshua’s tassels she’ll be healed.  She incubates the idea in her heart until she has the inner assurance that, if she charges forth in faith, her healing will manifest. 

   When she finally reaches Yahshua through the press, she’s healed instantly.  He says, “Your faith heals you,” and it has.  Yet many “faith” teachers stop short here, teaching that if we see our desire manifested in the mind’s eye, it will surely come to pass.  They neglect the fact that Yahshua perceived power shooting out of him.  The woman had been pregnant with the vision of a complete faith healing, it went to full term, but it took Yahshua’s skill as a midwife to deliver it.

   On the grand scale, I think of Hezekiah, the righteous King of Judea.  Judea was threatened by the power of Assyria and its general Sennacherib, who’d already shattered Israel and scattered the ten tribes.  Hezekiah bankrupted Judea paying Assyria’s blackmail.  He even tore the gold from the temple doors.  But when Assyria blasphemed Yahweh and made sport of Hezekiah’s faith, the righteous ruler got madder than heaven.  Hezekiah marched into the Holy Place of Yahweh and, in a powerful show of desperate faith, laid his case before the living Elohim. 

   There he tarried until the evidence of his faith arrived.  At that great turning point, he cried out,

“Father Yahweh, the king of Assyria has cast the Elohims of the nations into the fire.  Save us from his clutches, I beg you, so that all may know that you alone are Yahweh Almighty” (2 Kings 19:17-19). 

Hey, Hezekiah had a nation to preserve and no time left.  Desperate measures were required.  Hezekiah chose a desperate prayer of faith.  His intentions were pure – to save Judea and glorify Yahweh.

   That night, the Heavenly Host descended to the Assyrians and slew 185,000 desperados.  The survivors made their terrified flight back home amain, and Sennacherib, rather than attribute the massacre to Yahweh and prayer, went straight for his Elohims in Nineveh.  His sons murdered him in the shrine.  This marked the end of this terrorist leader.  Yahweh and one man of faith brought down the mightiest fighting force on earth.  Hezekiah had formulated the impossible, incubated it, then laid it before the feet of Yahweh in faith.  His faith became sight and his Father received the credit due him.

 

What It Would Take to Stop the Devil

 

“Substantial things seen, through hope, make the unseen plainly visible.”

 

   I suppose if we were more greatly affected, if we had lost more loved ones, if we cared more for strangers, if we lacked serenity at home, we’d be more earnest to create peace through faithful supplication.  There could be no end to what we could accomplish for good if we put our hearts to it. 

   But we primarily operate on the bloody lady level rather than the Hezekiah level – that’s where our interests lie and what we’re taught to do – to see to ourselves first.  Maybe we should humbly ask Yahweh instead for a “global burden” rather than just a local burden.  Maybe we should call upon him to help us love others, even unseemly others, as we love ourselves: and we do love ourselves, else we wouldn’t take care of ourselves. 

   If we ask for compassion for foreigners and strangers, and we desire victory over an unseen enemy, Yahweh will assure that we have plenty of both compassion and power, so that we may cause terror to cease and stop war cold.  To love the stranger enough to intercede for him is a low priority for most of us – but a high priority on Yahweh’s list.

 

Tell Him What You Want

   Whether our priorities are low or lofty, “the substance of things we hope for but do not yet see” is something like our unborn baby.  We must incubate our hope in the womb of faith before it springs forth in substance.  We must conceive it and carry it full term, living with the pain of it, or the joy of it, or the shaking knees of its heaviness.  We mustn’t be ashamed that we’re carrying this promise child; we make it known.  Maybe others will help us with the burden.  When we’ve carried it full term, Yahshua will bring it forth. 

   This week also marked the largest pro-abortion rally of the century in Washington.  Abortionists and sodomites want to snatch babies from the womb at any stage of development, even as they’re born.  Sadly, a contingency of the Methodist Church was on hand, backing the pro-murder faction.  In regard to human rights, our abortion laws put us in the club with other moral giants like Communist China and North Korea.  The reason is that Christians have aborted this Elohimly cause from the womb of faith before it’s full incubation.  We could save the world if only we could bring our hope to full term.

   It takes far more than bumper sticker advice like “envision world peace” or “abortion stops a beating heart.”  It takes the kind of effort described in that old camp meeting chorus, “Yahshua on the mainline: tell him what you want.  Call Him up and tell him what you want.”

 

“Substantial things seen, through hope, make the unseen plainly visible.”

 

Be Specific

   But before you “call him up,” be prepared to speak very, very clearly.  Consider as you do what Paul says about faith: “Yahweh brings the dead to life and calls into existence what does not yet exist” (Romans 4:17 NJB).  Yahweh calls into existence what doesn’t yet exist – and does so all the time.  What exactly do you want, my friend: An end to world suffering – or just a little hamburger sandwich?  {pause} 

   “On the Jericho road blind Bartimaeus sat.  His life was a void, so empty and flat.”  When Bartimaeus’ chance comes, Yahshua insists he be specific.  Yahshua isn’t playing dumb, asking, “What do you want, Blind Bartimaeus?”  After all, there’re over 8,000 promises in the Scripture.  And one doesn’t always desire the obvious.  Yet Bartimaeus knows exactly what he wants before getting “Yahshua on the mainline.”  “I got my mind made up!” he says, “I want my sight!”  And that’s exactly what he gets.  (Mark 10:51)

  Dr. Cho tells of an old maid who asks him to pray she find a husband.  The interview went something like this: “Sister, how long have you been praying?”  “For more than ten years.”  “Why hasn’t Elohim answered you?”  “I don’t know.”  “What kind of husband do you want?”  “Well, that’s up to Elohim.  He knows everything.”  “No, that’s your problem.  He works through your requests.  Now get your pencil.  What color husband, yellow, white or black?”  “White”  “Write it down.  Tall or short?”  “Oh, I want a tall husband.”  “Write it.  Do you want him thin, medium or pleasingly plump?”  “I want him skinny.”  “Write it.  What kind of job?”  “Teacher.”  “Write it.  Now read your list aloud. (She did.)  Close your eyes.  Can you see your husband clearly now?”  “O yes, I can see him!”  “Okay then - let’s order him up!”  (They put in their order.)  “Sister, paste your order to your mirror.  Intercede for this man morning and evening and praise Elohim in the meantime.” 

   One year later, Cho sees the sister in a restaurant.  “Dr. Cho, last summer at church a high school music teacher from the U.S. came with a quartet.  Though all the young girls were crazy about him, he was fascinated with me, an old maid.  He hung around me and finally asked me to marry him.”  (Epilogue: They were married and on her marriage day she took her order, read it to the congregation and tore it up.)  (Dialogue version here.)

   Sometimes I think we pray too much with little effect.  Maybe we should formulate what we really care about like Bartimaeus, like this spinster, and not just pray once or ten times for some vague wish, or for some general need; let’s be specific!  Let’s take out the order pad!  And when we do, may our vision be broader and more global than that of the lonely spinster or the blind beggar.

 

“Substantial things seen, through hope, make the unseen plainly visible.”

 

Acquire a Burning Desire 

Psalms 37:4  Make Yahweh your joy and he will give you your heart’s desires.

   We pray – then we forget.  We don’t invest much time in prayer.  There’s no burning desire to see answers, maybe because we pray for too many things.  That’s where intercession comes in.  Intercession’s a long word, and means a longer, more heartfelt, more systematic prayer.  It’s the type of prayer investment that creates a burning desire.  If we want something outstanding, like world peace, or if we need something for ourselves, like that next light bill, we need to develop a “divine obsession” for it – then we need to intercede.

   One spring we drove from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa.  Orange trees everywhere were loaded with fruit.  We stopped at a tourist trap in an orange grove that offered a free glass of juice.  “I’d like my free glass of orange juice,” I said.  The clerk said, “Sorry, the machine’s broke.”  We were surrounded by zillions of oranges.  Was the problem no juice?  Hardly.  I just didn’t have a burning desire to squeeze the oranges.  (From Leroy Eims)  

   Listen: If you have no burning desire or sense of mission in life, this is a perfect reason to intercede, “Father, give me a burning desire for something, anything!”   If we don’t want something enough to be zealous on the demand side, how zealous will Yahweh be on the supply side?  However, if we pray that we receive a burning desire, we’ll certainly receive that quickly, for there are many causes in the Kingdom that need our attention.  He’ll point one out to you.  Pray, “Father, give me a mission!”  “Father, give me a burden.”  “Father, give me a burning desire!”

 

Pray For Assurance

  After we get a little prayer wheel turning, receiving the substance is next.  Now faith is the substance (`upostasiV): that’s a legal term, like a contract.  Intercede until Yahweh writes the sacred name on the bottom line.  When it’s signed, we know it as sure as if we’d received it in the mail.  We get blessed assurance – a foretaste of glory divine.

 

“Substantial things seen, through hope, make the unseen plainly visible.”

 

   After a service, a young wife came for prayer in tears.  She’d had a botched abortion and her new husband didn’t know.  He was a good man and they deserved a child.  But the doctor said, “Never.”  She thought our Father told her that if I’d pray for her, she’d conceive.  I did so, and she felt the Spirit move her.  She became pregnant in that instant – pregnant with hope.  But within a couple months, hope wasn’t the only thing in her bowels.  Her body was changing; she had morning sickness; she felt something inside move, and she saw something on a sonogram screen. 

   With this evidence, she was absolutely positively assured that she’d present her husband with a child despite the discouragement of the doctor.  Evidence of things hoped for is what assurance is all about.  I baptized a little girl exactly ten months after we prayed – right on schedule.

 

“Substantial things seen, through hope, make the unseen plainly visible.”

 

   Americans regulate their lives by schedules.  Everything is rush, rush, rush – but some things – important things – need to be done with slow care.  One of those things is waiting on Yahweh for assurance.  We used to call this “tarrying.”   When we were done tarrying, someone would say, “Yes, I got the assurance.”  But in our day we want to pray, “O Elohim, answer me now.  There’s so little time between commercials.  If you can’t answer me now, just forget it because I surely will!”  To such a lazy, Elohimless attitude, Yahweh quotes the Proverbs, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise” (Proverbs 6:6).   Imitate the ant – and invest productive time getting to know the ways of your Father.  Develop a relationship and he’ll give his daughter everything.

 

Speak the Word

   Once we have the assurance, we need to tell so that when we give birth, faith visits the community.  If you get the assurance, be clamorously foolish in your boasting, if you will.  In one place, the stern Apostle Paul wrote, “No one should think of me as a fool. But, if you do, bear with me as a fool. Then I can brag a little” (2 Corinthians 11:16 SEV).  When we boast in Yahweh, our foolishness will manifest as divine wisdom in due time.

   Look at how Abram and Sarai boasted in Yahweh and evidenced faith.  They had a clear-cut request –a son.  They had a burning desire that came from 25 years of prayer, and they placed the contract before Yahweh.  Before he signed it their faith was foolishness to everyone in the clan. 

   Yahweh gave them both new names as a baby shower gift. 

“You are no more Abram, but Abraham, the father of many nations!  And don’t call your wife Sarai, but Sarah, the princess.  I call things that aren’t as if they are; speak boldly as if you already had what is not so you may believe for what is coming!”

   At Yahweh’s command, Abram and Sarai became Abraham and Sarah.  Abraham’s down in the valley when Sarah calls him in for supper.   “Abraham, O Father of Many Nations!  Supper’s ready!”   (And the people said:) “Listen!  She’s calling that old man Father of Many Nations!  That woman wants a child so bad she’s lost her mind!  How pitiful!”  But Abraham calls back in reply, “Sarah!  Princess!  I’m coming!”  (And the people said:) “Ha!  That old bag a princess?  They both have Alzheimer’s.”

   You know what’s next.  Exactly what Yahweh told them to call each other, they became!  Exactly what they ordered and tarried for was manifested.  The child Isaac was a gift from Yahweh to people who loved him and deserved it.  By the way, Isaac means, “they laughed” (Genesis 17:17-21).  Whenever they called out the name Isaac, the people thereabouts remembered how they’d laughed, and were convicted to faith in the providence of Yahweh.

 

A Big Job

   Let me say that I’m very concerned about our times and what’s happening in our world.  Today isn’t like every other day.  There are evil forces threatening to undo the very foundation of our way of life and liberty to worship.  Military might alone will never triumph over this kind of evil.

   Charles Spurgeon preached with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.  These days again we need to take up the paper with the Bible – and urgently intercede for those fighting terror and all victims of it.  My Elohim, we can’t bury our heads in the sand any more.  We must wake up and challenge the foes of Elohimliness let loose upon the world in recent years.  If the evil one has his way, not one of us will be left unmolested.

   But just as Yahweh creates out of nothing, he can also prevent that which is bound to happen.  In answer to Hezekiah’s prayer, he ended the careers of 185,000 religious terrorists.  But he won’t stop anything unless we who are meek DO SOMETHING.  The inevitable will happen unless we begin to conceive victory in faith immediately. 

 

“Substantial things seen, through hope, make the unseen plainly visible.”

 

   Granny’s toenail will heal itself.  The world will not.  Uncle Tom’s headache will go away.  Radical Islam will not.  Supplicate for peace, righteousness and justice.  Conceive these children.  Tarry for them and incubate them.  Proclaim them alive in faith and birth them.  “What becomes pregnant in mind and heart is going to come out in circumstances” (Cho).  After birthing a baby as big as world peace and safety, the rest of your children will be easy births, and you’ll come be known on heaven and earth by the reputations of your spiritual children.

 

The Algebra Lesson  Optional Exercise

   How many took algebra in school?  How many enjoyed it?  What if I told you that knowing a little algebra would help you understand about faith as it’s defined in Hebrews 11:1?  Would you think I was crazy?  Well, if you hate Algebra, tune out for a few minutes.  Otherwise, let’s try a short lesson; here’s one of this science’s great formulas:  If A is C and B is C then A is B.

·         We’ll start with C.  C never changes and we give it the value of 5 hymnbooks.

·         Next, we’ll give A the value (3 hymnbooks + 2 hymnbooks).  If A is (3 hymnbooks + 2 hymnbooks), then A is indeed equal to 5 hymnbooks, the number of hymnbooks we gave C in the first place, right?

·         Now we’ll give B the value (6 hymnbooks - 1 hymnbook).  If B is (6 hymnbooks - 1 hymnbook), then B is indeed equal to 5 hymnbooks, also the number of hymnbooks we gave C in the first place, right?

·         So we can safely say now that A, which is (3 hymnbooks + 2 hymnbooks), is the same value as C (5 hymnbooks), which is the same as B (6 hymnbooks - 1 hymnbook).  Are we together?

·         Finally, we can take C completely out of the formula by proclaiming with full assurance that A, which is (3 hymnbooks + 2 hymnbooks) is equal to B, which is (6 hymnbooks - 1 hymnbook).

And in this case, we’ve proven that If A is C and B is C then A is B.  But why bother?  Because Hebrews 11:1 is a very difficult little verse to understand.  Algebra gives us a way to “whittle it down some” so we can.

   Let’s take pieces from the verse and fit them into the formula.  We give C the value of “faith” since that is constant throughout scripture.  You always need faith!  A is given the value of “the substance of hopes” and B is given the value of “the evidence of the unseen.” 

   Remember, if A is C and B is C then A is B.  Is “the substance of hopes” (A) is faith (C) and “the evidence of the unseen” (B) is also faith (C), then “the substance of hopes is the evidence of the unseen.”  Using Algebra, we may start understanding faith better by taking that word entirely out of the equation.  Now let’s go on with the rest of the exercise.}

 

“Intercession may be defined as Holy, believing, persevering Prayer whereby someone pleads with Elohim on behalf of another or others who desperately need Elohim’s intervention.” (Full Life Bible) It is upon this type of Prayer that the remainder of this manual focuses. In this lesson you will learn the Biblical basis of Intercession and about our model for Intercession, the Lord Yahshua Christ. You will also learn how to do Intercession and why it is an important Ministry.  For a full, free Bible course on Intercessory prayer, go to Xian Resource Center.

 

Cho Dialog Version

Narrator:  Dr. Cho tells of an old maid who asks him to pray she find a husband.  The interview went something like this:

Cho: Sister, how long have you been praying? 

Sister: For more than ten years.

Cho: Why hasn’t Elohim answered you?

Sister: I don’t know. 

Cho: What kind of husband do you want?

Sister:  Well, that’s up to Elohim.  He knows everything. 

Cho: No, that’s your problem.  He works through your requests.  Now get your pencil.  What color husband, yellow, white or black?

Sister: White. 

Cho: Write it down.  Tall or short?

Sister: Oh, I want a tall husband.

Cho: Write it.  Do you want him thin, medium or pleasingly plump?

Sister: I want him skinny.

Cho: Write it.  What kind of job? 

Sister: Teacher.

Cho: Write it.  Now read your list aloud.

Sister: (She reads the list.) 

Cho: Close your eyes.  Can you see your husband clearly now? 

Sister: O yes, I can see him! 

Cho: Okay then - let’s order him up! 

Narrator: They put in their order. 

Cho: Sister, paste your order to your mirror.  Intercede for this man morning and evening and praise Elohim in the meantime. 

Narrator: One year later, Cho sees the sister in a restaurant. 

Sister: Dr. Cho, last summer at church a high school music teacher from the U.S. came with a quartet.  Though all the young girls were crazy about him, he was fascinated with me, an old maid.  He hung around me and finally asked me to marry him. 

Narrator: They were married and on her marriage day she took her order, read it to the congregation and tore it up.

---

 

SERMON CHECK-OFF

[  ]  Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for ...

[  ]  “Substantial things seen, through hope, make the unseen plainly visible.”

[  ]  John 14:18 “I will never leave nor forsake you.” 

[  ]  1 John 3:2 We shall see him as he really is.

[  ]  2 Peter 1:1 We already have the faith of the Apostles.

[  ]  “This week – house-to-house battles in Babylon, terrorists assassinated in Gaza, suicide bombings in Arabia, nuclear weapons in Persia, powerful car bombings in Damascus, a plot to use chemical weapons in Amman.  Now we hear mullahs call from minarets all over Europe for Europe’s twelve million Muslims to rise up and divert the course of western civilization away from the cross toward the crescent.” 

[  ]  Mark 5:25-30. The bloody woman.

[  ]  2 Kings 19:17-19 “So all may know that you alone are Yahweh Almighty.”

[  ]  “This week also marked the largest pro-abortion rally of the century in Washington.” 

[  ]  Romans 4:17 “Yahweh brings the dead to life and calls into existence what does not yet exist.”

[  ]  Mark 10:51 “I want my sight!”

[  ]  Proverbs 6:6  Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

[  ]  2 Corinthians 11:16. Then I can brag a little ...

[  ]  Genesis 17:17-21 Isaac means, “they laughed”

[  ]  Yonggi Cho – “What becomes pregnant in mind and heart is going to come out in circumstances.”

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