44-A-Step-Of-Faith-For-Future-Sake

The speaker encourages listeners to take a step of faith for the future. They emphasize the importance of using time wisely and doing something different or extra to achieve different outcomes. Bible characters are cited as examples of individuals who accomplished great things despite their limitations. The speaker urges listeners to be finishers, to remember the joy of finishing, to endure hardships, and to disregard shame. They conclude by advising listeners to take a step of faith for their future and pray for wisdom and grace. Hello and welcome to join this chariot for a 5 minute Bible study. This 44th episode on A Step of Faith is titled For Future's Sake. My name is Greg Alabi and I'm inviting you to come let us study the Bible together. When we consider our current situation in the light of the trend of how things are going, it may be a wise idea to consider taking a step of faith to do something important, something different, something drastic, something new or something extra for future's sake. Ten years from now seems far away, but ten years ago looks like yesterday, dear friends. Not only is time going fast, but life itself is going. We have been told that to fail to prepare is to prepare to fail. We may not all be alive in 99 or 100 years from now, but one thing is sure, we all have equal amount of 24 hours in each day. What each of us do with our own 24 hours is what differentiates us. Why some people repeat almost the same activity each day and hope to get a different result tomorrow, others do something extra, something different with their own 24 hours and they get extra or different outcome in their future. You have possibly heard the saying, cut your coat according to your cloth and not according to your size, meaning, do things within your means or your resources be realistic, downsize to reality. But as we study the Bible, we notice majority of the Bible characters stepped up to accomplish various things that were far bigger and greater than their ability and their resources. That was despite their personality, their shortfalls, their positions, the challenges before them, their history or their background. They did not just live day by day nor did they simply take a day at a time, rather they went the extra mile. One day, I told a group of people, before you put your vehicle, your car or your aircraft on autopilot or cruise control, you should first and foremost gain some amount of speed. Being on autopilot or cruise control while you are parked or grounded with zero motion and taking nothing, doing nothing, taking a day at a time is not a good idea, my advice. We ought to take a step of faith for future sake, so we do not wake up one day and realize we are already 90 years old, 90th birthday and still hoping for a better future ahead without any effort. Now let us learn some valuable lessons from Jesus Christ in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2. It says, Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. The message translation puts it this way, Jesus, who both began and finished this race, studied how he did it, he never lost sight of where he was headed, he could put up with anything along the way, the cross, the shame, whatever, and now he is there in the place of honor right alongside of God. First lesson here, like Jesus, we should be finishers of whatever we start, never drop out, never abandon, never quit, be a finisher. Second lesson, for the joy that was set before him, that means, let us consider, keep remembering, constantly remind yourself of the joy of finishing, the reward ahead. The third lesson, he endured the cross, that means, we must be resilient and endure any cross, pick up your cross. Fourth lesson, despising the shame, the lesson here, the message translation says, put up with anything along the way, that includes few insults, few losses, appearing foolish, just don't consider the shame, move on. Fifth lesson, and he sat down on the right hand of God, the lesson, in the long run, when we do it for the future sake, we will one day settle down in high places. My advice, for future sake, let us take a step of faith today, to have joy in future. We must endure our cross and despise the shame, because one day, it will all pay off. It's worth it, let us pray. Father, we thank you for the lessons we are learning. We come before you, O God, that you give us wisdom to plan for the future, to take a step of, a lot of us know what to do, but we just need grace. We don't want to continue where we are, pick us up, Lord, and put our feet on the right path, and give us that grace to go, and go for it, in Jesus name, Amen. I want to invite you to please visit our website, gregalabee.com, look for the podcast, listen to previous and current messages, God bless you.