Hebrews 11:1 - 12:2 Growing in Faith

Of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsak preaches for his three-part series, Growing In, reminding us all of the growth of Recast Church. Let's listen in.

Well, good morning. If you can find your seats, that would be great. We're gonna go ahead and get started. And welcome to all of you. I'm Don Filsak, I'm the lead pastor here, and just very glad that you've come out on this very, very cold winter day to gather together to worship God and to kick off a new year, really end a year, and get ready to kick off a new year thinking about important things, valuable things.

I'm praying that 2018 is an amazing year for us together as a church. I know that 2017 was pretty amazing in just the simple fact that we're sitting in a building now. This was a pretty substantial year in the history of our church, but I'm hoping that it continues to go forward in this next year in new avenues and new ways for us to reach out to our community and to see the kingdom of God expand for the cause of Jesus Christ, the son of God.

As we get ready to kick off this new year, starting tomorrow, we're gonna be jumping into this week a three-part series that spells out the growth map of Recast Church. When a small group of people set out almost 10 years ago now to plant a new church in Matawan, we had the vision of gathering worshipers who would be constantly seeking to gather more worshipers for the glory of his name.

That's really, that's our mission statement as a church, to worship him and find more worshipers for him. And we started off with these core values that is an acronym for our name, replicating, replication, community, authenticity, simplicity, and truth.

Those are the things that guide us and direct us into ministry. They're not the sum total of everything, but they're guiding principles that are the values that we hold to. And in the name of simplicity, we wanted to come up with a simple and pared-down programming that focused on the essentials of growing in Jesus.

And so we kind of thought, well, there's a lot of busyness in people's lives. How many of you would raise your hand and admit that there's some busyness in your life? You'd be willing to raise your hand and say that?

I think that that's all of us. And the thing that I identified from the history that I was coming from and from the perspective of having been a pastor, an associate pastor in another church and just identifying my own life is that many churches provide a smorgasbord of programming to add to your already busy schedules.

And what that has a tendency to do for all of us, if we're honest, is it draws us out of our community into the church building more and more and increasingly over the course of time to where there can be a program every night of the week.

And even sometimes within more established churches, you even have competing programming. Multiple programs for your children. Which one are you gonna choose from? Are you gonna do them all? And that type of thing.

And so in the name of that simplicity, we arrived at three things that we believe that everybody needs in order to grow and then set our programming around that. And that's why the sermon series on this.

We arrived at this idea that everybody needs to be growing in faith, growing in community, and growing in service. And we really believe, and I'm gonna tell you in all honesty, when we started Recast, I wasn't sure how that was gonna work out.

Because immediately there's a lot of pull towards multiple things and multiple avenues. And when are you gonna start an Awana program? When are you gonna do this on Wednesday night? When are you gonna do this on Thursday night?

What about this program? What about that program? And so it's very easy to get pulled. But staying the course wasn't always easy in the early stages, but I believe that it's born fruit in the lives of people who have come to faith in Christ here.

We've seen them established. We've seen them growing in faith, community, and service. And so it's been awesome. So the growing in faith component is what we're gonna be talking about this morning. And that really is what we do in the worship gatherings on Sunday morning.

This is the primary programming. You're taking part in the primary programming for what we offer as a church, as our program for growing in faith. And that is that we gather together with God's people.

We take in his word. We worship him in song. And then we go out and live our lives based on the word that is preached and grasped on Sunday morning. And that's the growing in faith component. Then we grow in community.

And one of the avenues and the ways that you can do that is by joining a community group. We're gonna be having signups here in the next few weeks for community groups starting off in this next year. And we run those in cycles of about 13 weeks.

And so you can meet with others along in the journey. We also recognize that community is sometimes more organic than that. You can't force it. How many of you ever tried to force community? You just get together with a group of people and it just doesn't click or whatever.

And not every time you join a community group is that gonna be your main, oh, that's gonna do it. And so even just the idea of decentralizing that and encouraging mentoring relationships and connections within the church is a part of that as well.

And then the last thing is growing in service. And we're gonna be talking about that in a couple weeks. Serving in the church and in the community and responding to the grace that God has given to you by sharing that with others.

That might look like, and you'll notice that people have served you already this morning. Some people greeted you at the door. Some people were here early making coffee. Some people were even literally set the chairs up in here after basketball this week.

And all different kinds of aspects of things that can be used. But let me just say that there's all kinds of things. There's people that are serving the kids back there. There's all different avenues.

But even coaching Little League. Have you ever thought about coaching Little League or coaching your kids' basketball team? Could be a ministry. We actually believe that here at the church. And that might be a component of what God has called you to do.

That might be your service. And you think, service to the church. If you're in a situation where you're coaching and this is a new idea where that could be a ministry, I'd encourage you to set up a meeting or come and talk with me afterwards.

And I'd love to sit down and talk with you about how you could make that a more ministry-oriented thing. Where you could literally be serving God and serving in the church through coaching your kid's team.

And there's some really cool opportunities that are there. So come and talk with me if that's you. But we're gonna be talking about service in a couple of weeks. So this week, faith. Next week, community.

The following week, service. Then I'm gonna be gone for two weeks. After that, I'm gonna be going to Indonesia. Linda and I and Leah, our daughter, are gonna be going to Indonesia to visit our missionaries there.

So we'll be out for two weeks. And Dale Kurdi is gonna be coming to open the word for us together there. So over the next three weeks, we're gonna be focusing in on what it means as a church to grow in these areas.

Thinking about what God desires for us. And this morning, we're gonna be listening to what God's word has to say, particularly about the word faith. And we want to particularly key in on what is faith, the definition of it, so that we can set our hearts and minds towards growing in it.

And so if you're not already there, I'd ask you to open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11. We're gonna do something a little different this morning in that this is a large chunk of scripture that I'm gonna read to you this morning.

And it's not because this is the dawn reading hour or everybody gets to curl up and gather around, and I'm gonna read. It's not because I love to hear my voice. It's because we believe that this is the very word of God and it has the power to transform and change.

So I do ask that you open up to that. If you don't have a Bible or a means to navigate to the Bible on a device, then you can grab the Bible that's in the seat in front of you, under that, on that cage, that rack down there.

It's page 584 in that Bible. Easy to find, 584 Hebrews chapter 11. I'm gonna read all the way through the first two verses of chapter 12. But I recognize that it's very easy for our minds to wander a little bit while we're reading something like this.

And so that's one of the reasons I want you to just kind of follow along and just really imagine these things, think through these things. Look particularly to the witnesses that we see in the middle and contemplate and consider.

Because you can listen faster than I can read. I mean, that's just a scientific fact. You can listen faster than I can read. And so where should your mind go during that time? And I mean, just think about some of these characters and what you know about them from Sunday school, from history or from some of those things or just really contemplate and consider what the words are saying.

Faith as Assurance and Conviction

Hebrews chapter 11. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death and he was not found because God had taken him. Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance and he went out but not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive even when she was past the age since she considered him faithful who had promised.

Therefore from one man and him as good as dead were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. These all died in faith not having received the things promised but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out they would have had the opportunity to return but as it is they desire a better country that is a heavenly one.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac and he who had received the promise was in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was said through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead from which figuratively speaking he did receive him back. By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith Jacob when dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph bowing in worship over the head of his staff.

By faith Joseph at the end of his life made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. By faith Moses when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edicts.

By faith Moses when he was grown up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt for he was looking to the reward.

By faith he left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the king for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

By faith the people crossed the Red Sea on dry land but the Egyptians when they attempted to do the same were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with a sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised since God had provided something better for us that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Let's pray. Father, your word is powerful. Your word identifies for us the centrality of faith in our lives, how fundamental it is that we've gathered together to sing your praises, to hear a word from you, to be encouraged, to be challenged, to be strengthened, to be built up, and all of this without sight.

All of this on the basis of faith. All of this on the basis of trust. Fundamentally, you really are. You really are the creator. You really do own us. We really do belong to you. And so, Father, I pray that that would be a reality that carries us out into 2018.

Father, this has been a grab bag of a year for many of us. There's been good, there's been bad, some more bad, for some of us, more bad than good, and for some, more good than bad, and it doesn't really, at the end of the day, even matter in the sense that we're looking towards another year.

And so, Father, I pray that you would bring honor and glory to yourself in us this next year. Father, that we would see you as you are, that we'd be motivated and moved to grow in faith. And Father, that the seeds that you planted in our hearts would take bloom in this next year.

And Father, that we'd be more patient, we would be more kind, we would be more loving, we would be changed, we would live different lives because we're growing in faith in you. And Father, I pray that even now, as we have an opportunity to sing your praises, to just lift our voices, Father, that we would actually identify who we're singing to, and that that would light our hearts on fire for you, Father, that we would be moved, that this would not be an exercise of vocal chords, this would not be an exercise of reading musically the words on the screen, but that these would penetrate to our heart.

And Father, that we'd be moved to really see you as you are and be changed because we've encountered you this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Again, thanks to the band for leading us. I'm grateful for the time and energy that they put in each week, so glad for them.

And I do ask that you just please make yourself comfortable. If you need to get up and get more coffee, juice, or donuts while supplies last, take advantage of that. You're not gonna distract me if you need to get up and go back there for anything.

And then also, please just keep your Bibles open to Hebrews chapter 11. Just so that you know, we're gonna be really focusing in on zeroing in on the first two verses of chapter 11. I know I read a big chunk of scripture and you're going, oh my goodness, how's he gonna get through all this?

It's the first two verses of chapter 11, first two verses of chapter 12, and we'll be doing a little survey skimming in between. But I wanna start off just by this question, and it's a generic question, but it's a question that I wanna just kinda sling out there, and that is, what is faith?

What is faith? Some think of it as a blind leap off of a cliff with some kind of distant or vague hope that there's a God out there who's gonna catch you. Right, like it's just kinda like, you're standing there and you're just gonna jump and leap, and well, hopefully there's something there that's a reality to this whole thing.

To some, it's the irrational rejection of science. Like, we hear a lot in our culture nowadays about the battle between faith and science. It's as if you have to choose one or the other, right? You guys are aware of that?

Do you encounter that? Raise your hand if you've actually heard that kinda talk about the difference between science and faith and all of that. To others, it's kinda just warm feelings or kinda evokes ideas of going to Grandpa and Grandma's church when you were a kid or something like that, or maybe just the idea that everything's gonna work out in the end, but it's vague and it's fuzzy and it's not quite got any form to it.

The Witnesses of Faith in Hebrews 11

In this long text this morning, the author of Hebrews is gonna take us through three movements regarding faith. The first, he's gonna define faith for us in Hebrews chapter one and two. I mean, Hebrews 11, verses one and two.

Those first two verses are to define faith for us, really kinda verse three as well. Second, he's gonna bring forward witnesses of the power of faith. So we're gonna look at the lives and basically just get a glimpse at the lives of a bunch of people through history who had faith in God and what that did in their lives.

And that's from basically verse four all the way through the end of the chapter. And then lastly, he's gonna call us to the focus of our faith, which is the first two verses of chapter 12. So that's kinda the order.

For those of you that are kinda organized in your mind, and you're like, oh, I like to have three points or something like that, that's where we're going. And our text starts by addressing the definition of faith.

A biblical faith, we see these two words right away associated with faith. It is assurance and conviction. It's like two immediately really strong words that the author of Hebrews wants to draw our attention on.

Assurance and conviction. Would you agree with me that those are pretty strong words? It's like, bam, right there. Assurance, assurance, like some kind of solid foundation of something. Another word there is evidence that could be translated evidence, and some versions will translate that as evidence of things to come.

Assurance of what, though, in the text? Assurance, what kind of things do you put your assurance in? How many of you kinda put your assurance in your employer to give you a paycheck? Is there kinda like a pretty strong hope and trust and faith that you're gonna get a paycheck from the employer that you work for?

What assurance of protection, is that what we're talking about here? Is it an assurance like gravity that, how many of you have ever been afraid that the next time you jump, you're just not gonna land again?

Like, not really a problem for most of us. Some of us barely get off the ground when we try to jump, right? So, and some of us don't remember the last time we tried to jump. But it's just, it's a reality.

We expect assurance of gravity, that's a pretty good thing to put your assurance in because it seems to prove to be true. But this is assurance of things hoped for. It's assurance of something in the future, which is a little bit of a fuzzy and vague way to say something.

How many of you just think that the future is kind of generally fuzzy and not very, not the kind of thing that you think of as assurance, right? But this is the firm conviction here in this text that what one's hope is placed in will end up coming true.

That if you banked on God, if you put your trust and faith in Him, then He is gonna make good on His promises. And on what basis would we ever assume that God was gonna keep His promises to us? We're gonna have some witnesses who step forward to identify for us that He is a God who keeps His promises down through the centuries, down through the ages, person after person after person who steps forward and says, I can testify to that.

I can testify to Him being trustworthy. I can testify that your assurance is well-founded and that your faith is in a good thing if your faith is placed in God. And so this assurance is a strong word.

So a true biblical faith is one that gives assurance of a future blessing. It is based on something that you can't see with your eyes and isn't yet, but you're trusting in it. You're believing that it's gonna come to pass.

But where does this kind of assurance come from? And it's just simply rooted in the text, in those past examples, those past witnesses of what God has done. The promises of what God will do and then how He has met those promises.

Seeing what God has done and what He has promised gives assurance of things hoped for. But there's more to faith than just that. Faith further, the author goes on to tell us, is the conviction of things not seen.

It's not just about the future, but it's also about those things that you can't take in with your five senses. Conviction is a stronger word, by the way, than believe. I think that we don't use the word conviction a whole lot in this way.

We might use it more in terms of the judicial system than we would use it in the terms of like a fierce or strong or tenacious belief or trust. It's a strong word. I might say that I have, I believe that the market is gonna continue to set records in the new year.

How many of you would like that if that happened? Like that'd be kind of cool, but it'd be great if the economy continues to surge and things continue to go well. And I believe I could say, I believe that that's gonna happen.

But if I came to you and I said, I have the conviction that the market's gonna continue to go up. You're like, whoa, brakes on. Hold your horses, Don. Like conviction, really? Are you serious? Is that the right word?

Are you using the word in the right way there? Like you have the conviction? Chill, right? How many of you, like somebody has the conviction of something that is unknown. Like I've got the conviction that the lions are gonna, no, I didn't even go there.

I can't even say the word. Didn't even say it, okay? Almost said it. That would be a weird conviction, right? You know what I mean? I mean, even believing that is a tough one. But conviction is a strong, strong, solid, robust word that we reserve for just really strong things that we believe in or put our trust in.

And here he's saying it's the conviction of things not seen. So here we see that faith is tied up in what is hoped for and tied up in what is not seen, which sounds like shaky ground. It should sound like shaky ground to all of us.

But let's move on to see why assurance and conviction applies here in this text. Verse two, by the way, serves as, it's got a fundamental role. It doesn't necessarily fit in the overarching thing that I'm trying to communicate.

But verse two just simply states that faith is the way that these people in the Old Testament got their reward. The way that these witnesses that step forward, the basis upon which they are rewarded is faith.

And the author is ultimately just in verse two setting up verses four through 40 where he's gonna launch into that list of people who live by faith. But the one thing that's very important to get from verse two as we kind of brush past that and move on is, it's a significant implication, and that is that faith is the thing that God rewards.

Faith is the thing that God rewards. You want a rewarded life? You wanna live a life that in the end is gonna get a well-done, good, and faithful servant? Then live by faith, which entails taking this message in and recognizing what it means and then pressing out into 2018 with a commitment and a tenacious dedication to growing in your faith this next year.

It's not gonna happen on accident. You're not gonna accidentally have more faith next year than you had this year. There's gonna be some effort, there's gonna be some struggle, there's gonna be some working, there's gonna be some effort on your part that's going to cause a growth in faith, and we'll see some of those things here by the end.

But verse three then works to emphasize the way that faith is not synonymous with knowing things. For it is by faith that we understand that the universe was created by God, the text says. Where were you when the world came into existence?

Where were you when, I mean, he asks that literally in the book of Job, right? Like he's asking Job, where were you when all of these things came to pass and came to be? The fact of the matter is no one was there.

No one was there to witness the creation of the world. So on what basis do you believe that there's a creator? And I'm not getting into the whole evolution and theistic evolution and all that kind of debate this morning.

I've preached through the book of Genesis. You can go back and read that at some point. I believe that God literally created the whole thing. I believe that, and I believe that just on the basis of my own study and conviction, not because it was spoon-fed to me or it was what I was taught, but by my own study, I believe that God is indeed the creator.

But how do we, you know, on what basis do we believe that there is a creator? None of us were there. By the way, neither was any scientist there. It's not a reproducible event, right? You can't do a hypothesis theory and experimentation on creation, right?

You just can't do that. So believing in creation is given to us in the text of Hebrews as an illustration of faith. He's not getting into all the semantics and the details of Genesis 1 and all of that kind of stuff and what's meant by Genesis 1 and 2 and all of that detail, but instead he's just saying you believe that there's a creator and that's an illustration of faith.

Something is unprovable, but it is trusted nonetheless is true. And a side note here about evidence for just a moment. Faith doesn't preclude or exclude evidence. A lot of people in our minds and in our current culture and even in the church have basically tried to check their brain at the door as if faith without understanding, faith without evidence is a better faith.

That is not true at all. Scripture doesn't indicate that. Scripture is quick to endorse a faith that is supported and seeks evidence. It's based on evidence. The New Testament authors, even the gospel writers are very quick to identify we were eyewitnesses to these events.

We observed these things, we tasted, we touched, we touched them with our own hands, we heard these things, we saw them with our eyes and we share with you what we encountered and experienced ourselves.

They're giving you evidence that these things are true. So seeking out evidence for your faith is desirable. If there's anybody in this room wrestling with your faith, don't give in to anybody who would say, just shove aside the thoughts, shove aside the wrestling and just believe.

Dig in. I'm that confident that this is true, by the way. I have such confidence that this is true that I would encourage you to keep pressing. Not to pull back and go, oh no, I'm scared. Don't be scared of questions that your kids ask.

Don't be scared of questions that you even have but instead pursue them. Don't give in to this notion that to be a Christian is to just check out. It's the exact opposite. We ought to be those who pursue the understanding and the knowledge and the study of the word of God to know what is true and to dig in.

That we might have answers for others but in all honesty, that we might have answers for ourselves because there's not a single person here that hasn't asked some very fundamental questions about your faith at times, sometimes dark times, sometimes bad times, sometimes good times, sometimes late at night kind of times, right?

Dig in to know and there's evidence that's available. Seeking out evidence for your faith is a desirable thing. The point in all this is that faith is not a leap in the dark but neither is it so close to knowing that it cannot be rejected.

God has not forced your will to come in line with the knowledge of him. He's left enough room for doubt in all of this. R .C. Sproul, a great theologian who actually just passed away a couple of weeks ago, an extremely godly example of an author, a theologian, a professor.

I had the privilege of hearing him speak at a couple of conferences within the last few years. Man, anything that you could pick up and read by R .C. Sproul, I would recommend. It is awesome and I had the privilege of sitting down with him this week in book form and reading what he has to say about Hebrews chapter 11 and I wanna quote him.

It's a little bit of an extended quote. I don't do this very often but this is powerful. On this subject of faith and evidence he says, "'The Bible never claims that we should "'jump into the darkness.

"'In fact, the biblical injunction is for people "'to come out of the darkness and into the light.'". John 3, 19. "'Faith is not blind in the sense of being arbitrary, "'whimsical, or a mere expression of human desire.

"'If that were the case, why would the author of Hebrews say "'faith is the evidence of things not seen?'. "'Evidence,' he goes on to say, is tangible. "'Evidence is something we can know through our five senses.

"'Evidence is what police officers inspect "'and try to collect at a crime scene. "'Fingerprints, traces of gunpowder residue, "'articles of clothing that are left behind and so on. "'All of those things are visible "'and point beyond themselves to some important truth.

"'That is why people analyze evidence.'". See, I contend that God could quite easily appear to all of us and convince us all right now of his existence and he could be done with what appears to be a big cosmic cat and mouse game but for some reason, and I can't explain it, he delights in the subtleties of this faith and trust relationship.

He doesn't want to coerce our will to his but instead leaves some room there. That brings us to a place of humility and dependence upon him and I think that might be a little bit of the clue of why he does it.

But Jesus himself explained this in John 20, verses 26 through 29 when Thomas, the setting was after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thomas doesn't even believe it happened. I love how the Bible incorporates those kinds of stories for us.

Would you have believed it? If you were Thomas, would you have believed that he had risen from the dead, if you had seen him crucified? You had known that John had gone to get the body, rather Joseph of Arimathea had gone to get the body and had prepared it for burial?

Would you have believed it? So Thomas doesn't and I can relate to Thomas. I mean, Thomas gets a pretty bad rap, he even gets that nice title doubting Thomas and I'm like, I get it. I can understand why he would be doubting.

So Jesus, again, eyewitness account, John writing here, he was present for these events and he says, Jesus came and showed up to us. We're in the upper room with several of the disciples and Thomas was with us and Jesus appeared in our midst and he allows Thomas to touch his hands where the nails were and to feel the wound in his side from the spirit.

He says, do you believe me now, Thomas? Do you believe that this is true? And Thomas immediately realizes he was wrong and believes that Jesus is Lord and exclaims, my Lord and my God. But then it's Jesus' response that I wanted to key in on here for the point of our understanding of what faith looks like and that wrestling back and forth between the evidence and the, Jesus is faithful to give the evidence, isn't he?

Shows his hands, shows his side. But then he says this, have you believed, talking to Thomas, have you believed because you've seen me? In other words, have you believed only because of evidence because blessed are those who have not seen and yet have still believed.

That's talking about you and me, folks. I haven't put my hand in those holes in his hands. I haven't had a chance to see the spear mark from his side, the scar there from that. Have you seen that? But we are those who believe without having seen.

And he says, blessed, blessed are you when you're in that category, when you're in that camp. See, Jesus gave evidence to Thomas but said, better yet is that you trust and believe God implicitly. That's the best, that's the best status, that's the best place.

But I think that we can come to an implicit trust in God based on the explicit witnesses of others because we have these evidences, because we've had our own encounters with him, because we've had experience with him.

Then we, in turn, grow in our faith to a place where we begin to trust more and more. Kind of like when you're in an early relationship with somebody, you trust them less. Do you know what I'm talking about?

And then there comes a point where based on experience and evidence and relationship and even relating with that person, with another person and other corroborating evidence that they really, really are a good guy, that really is a nice lady.