Some time ago, I began blogging on our Sunday sermons to help myself review; today, I’m continuing that by covering our Oct. 4 sermon, on Hebrews 11:1-2.

As usual, I won’t summarize the sermon, since you can stream it if you want to hear yourself, but will focus on what I take away from it. Our text was Hebrews 11:1-2:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.

The core of this message was faith – that it has both subjective and objective components; there’s an objective truth we’re relying on – the reality of Christ’s work, and its transforming influence in our lives – but also the subjective aspect of our personal trust in him. Faith connects us to the truth fo the gospel. However, faith is not some kind of wishful thinking, not about believing in ourselves or that we can accomplish something, or trusting in our own hard work. Christ himself is the only reliable foundation.

My key take-aways were, first, a great reminder to rely not on anything that I do, not even my religious activities – but to see all of these as just results. Christ is the center, and he’s the one I must rely on completely and look to in everything. Second, we received the powerful reminder – if we truly trust Christ for this one great thing, forgiveness of our sins and salvation, then how can we not also trust him for all of the lesser things? So when I find daily circumstances troubling or concerning, I need to come back to this core reality and be encouraged to trust him more with respect to the “light and momentary troubles” of daily life.