World Famous Faith

0:09 It's interesting how we call things world famous. Have you ever thought about that? What makes something world famous? Is there like a committee or a board or a group somewhere in Geneva or Tokyo that says, all right, if an object or a person hits these particular particulars, then they're world famous. I was in a small town in Florida a couple of years ago, and I saw this restaurant, and this restaurant was called Craig's Seafood. And then beneath the sign, it said, home of the world-famous fish sandwich. So I thought, I want a world-famous fish sandwich.

1:04 Walked in to this little restaurant, and the lady, very kind server, she said, what would you like? I said, you know what? I want a world famous fish sandwich. She goes, well, yes. I said, excuse me, what makes this sandwich world famous? She said, I don't know. Then I thought, well, if you're in a little town, think about this, and the city limits are pretty limited, and that's your world, you would just deem things as world famous.

1:51 I saw something the other day, world famous ribs. What does that mean? Someone from Canada tried a rib, and they said, man, this is awesome. And then I guess they're just called world famous stuff. World famous. I want to talk to you today about being world famous. I want to talk to you today about having a world famous vibe in your life. I want to be world famous. I know that a lot of you do as well. And this study about being world famous is unique because I'm going to talk about a guy that we met last week. and he is gonna show us what it means to have world famous faith.

2:38 Faith. Have you ever thought about faith before? Sometimes people tell me, well, man, Ed, I wish I had your faith. I wish I had that faith to become a Christian. I go, well, you do. We all have faith. But what direction is your faith? because we can have our faith pointed in the wrong direction. Abraham, though, the guy we're going to talk about, is like the father of our faith, Abraham.

3:09 Abraham's faith was so world famous, it's even famous today. Through Abraham, we have the nation of Israel. Through the nation of Israel, we have Jesus Christ. through Jesus Christ you have the church you have you and me so his world famousness is happening today that's awesome isn't it faith. Faith. What is faith? Is faith superstition? Is faith like, well, I hope. Is faith like this blind luck type issue? We're going to find out what it takes to have world famous faith. Three things. Number one, we need to understand the foundation of faith.

4:07 What's the foundation of faith? Believing God and acting upon it. It's hearing a word from God and acting upon it. We learned in the zone, and we're in this place, this sweet spot of God's success. God's the blesser. We're blessed, and we can become blessings. All of that happens because of our faith. We become blessings because of faith. Faith. Faith is based on the word of God. Abraham was the guy from the Ur of the Chaldeans. He was a complete pagan, and God turned this pagan into a preacher. Isn't that amazing? I mean, he was way out here in the land of Ing. We talked about the land of Ing last week. What is the land of Ing? The land of Ing is owning.

5:03 It is partying. It is traveling. It is bling, bling, ka-ching, ka-ching. That's what the land of ing is. And for a lot of people, they think that's life. I mean, that's my existence. God, though, and here's the great news, God wants to bless all of us. God is for us, not against us. And if you can leave with one thing today, I want you to walk out and go, man, God is for me. God is for me. God wants to bless me. God wants to bless me because he does. He does. Yet God's currency is faith. And remember, in the zone is where the purpose of God and the obedience of man collide.

5:59 Yet it takes faith. Abraham heard a word from God. And this is really, really riveting because in Genesis chapters 1 through Genesis chapter 11, it just talks about how wheels off mankind was. I mean, we were having some serious problems. You know, we built the Tower of Babel, that high rise to hell, and that didn't work out. That was funny. And that's in Genesis 11. And then in Genesis 12, all of a sudden you have God coming in. And God, it seems like it was arbitrary. It seems like it was like happenstance. But God picks a family. One family. And because of God's grace, he's like, this family is going to be a family of blessings. They're going to be famous.

6:55 They're going to be wealthy. Intangibly. Intangibly. and that was our boy Abraham's family. Isn't that crazy? So God just tells him, hey, Abraham, leave your family. he was like, okay. And he left his family.

7:18 Isn't it interesting how God challenges us to leave? Isn't it interesting how sometimes God will tell us to leave something that appears, the land of being, like it's thumping, like it's happening. And God will say, I want you to go to another area because Abraham left the epicent, the hub of finance and progress and all of the other things. So he left that hub to walk into the shrubs, literally, of Canaan, the land of milk and honey. And that was a big thing.

8:00 Abraham did, though, kind of struggle, and that's something you're not going to identify with. The Bible says he took with him his nephew Lot. Now remember, the Bible says in Genesis 12, Abraham, God said, leave your family of origin, your foo, right? Family of origin. Leave them and go to a land I will show you. Abraham takes Lot with him. And as I said last time, Lot was a lot. Do you know some people, or maybe you have some relationships in your life, you're like, man, they are a lot. Well, we're going to unpack that. Understand the foundation of faith. Genesis chapter 12, verse 1. Now the Lord said to Abram, go forth from your country and from your relatives, that means away from Lot, right? And from your father's house to the land which I will show you.

8:58 It's a faith decision. Let me underline it again. Habakkuk 2 chapter 4, Romans 117, Galatians 3, 11, Hebrews 10, 38. They all say, the just shall live by faith. You got it. Romans 10, 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Hebrews 11, 8. By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, he obeyed and went even though he did not know where in the heck he was going. I threw heck in there. It's not in the bottom.

9:37 That's amazing that Abraham did that. Left this cool place and went to this place that whatever, Canaan. When God says something, when God reveals something to you from his word, were to trust and obey. Remember, the zone is where the purposes of God and the obedience of man collide. But faith is something else. Number one, understand the foundation of faith. Number two, understand the force of faith. Faith is a force. Again, we all have faith. Just drive on the freeway. You have faith. You know, sit down in this beautiful theater, say you have faith.

10:28 We all have faith. I want to challenge you, though, to put the faith, your faith, in the person of Jesus Christ because faith is so forceful it can't have sin anywhere around it. In other words, I can't be in sin in the land of being and in the blessed place. Does that make sense? You know, put your right foot in, put your right foot out, put your right foot in and shake. You know that? Do the Donald Trump and turn yourself around. Yeah, we can't do that. I've tried to do that before. I'm sure you have too. Abraham left sin. Again, his family, pagan idolaters. Like idol worshipers. He left it.

11:20 but he shouldn't have taken Lot with him. But let's just talk about his family for a second. We all have a family of origin. Our families aren't perfect. Does anybody have a perfect family here? Any of our locations? No, no, no. And here's how we roll. Abraham left his family of origin. Obviously, God wanted him to leave. He left.

11:45 And I want to ask you, when you leave your family, when you individuate, how do you act or react? A friend of mine told me this. A friend of mine said, when it comes to our family of origin, we either act by default or we move into design. In other words, let's say my family wasn't perfect. And of course, my family is not perfect and is not perfect. And no family can love you perfectly. If you're waiting for a family to perfectly love you, well, that's not gonna happen. That will not happen. So we have deficits in our family of origin. So what do we do? Sometimes we just go to default. Well, that's just the way I am.

12:41 You know, my father was a womanizer. I'm just that way. my mother would fly off the handle I'm just ah you know it's just the way I am I can't help it default default yeah i've done that we've all done that that's why we laugh yet god says we as we leave right as we obey him through faith we can allow god to build into our lives, design, and we can fill those negative holes with positive things. So we don't always have to go, well, by default, by default. No, no, no, no. We can say by design, by faith. I love what the book of Joel says. Joel chapter two, verse 25. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locusts have eaten.

13:39 What? A power-packed and pregnant verse. I like that, pregnant verse. so you're telling me, Ed, that as I make these faith decisions, that God can, if I'll allow him, replace and replenish the dysfunction and the years the locusts have eaten? Yes. Yes. And it took Abraham decade after decade after decade after decade to work these things out. It's part of his sanctification. It's part of my sanctification and part of your sanctification. So it's not gonna be like, boom, I'm in the zone. Wow, I'll never default again. I'm just into the design.

14:32 No, you're still gonna, we're still gonna struggle with it, but I just want you to know there's a force of faith. I've gotta bring up a lot. I hate to bring up something negative, but I will. Abraham should not have taken Lot with him. He did, and I'm sure he was like, poor Lot. Abraham was a billionaire, and Lot became a squillionaire because of Abraham. He brought Lot with him. Lot kept him from being, in a lot of situations, what and who he should have been, Lot. And as I said earlier, maybe you have a Lot with you. And you're like, man, they are a lot. I have talked to a lot of people about their lives over the years. And when someone talks to me about a train wreck, they always start the conversation this way.

15:33 I had these friends. I've even written a book about that. I had these friends. I don't care who you are, how smart you are, how cool you are, how rich and famous you are, how whatever you are. The lots in your life can be albatrosses and they can keep you and me from being who God wants us to be. So make sure you're constantly assessing that. Make sure you're always running that through the funnel of faith. Here's the third thing. Yes, understand the foundation of faith. Yes, understand the force of faith. But also, this is fun here, understand the fortune of faith. The fortune of faith.

16:26 That's right, I didn't stutter. The fortune of faith. God blesses us intangibly, intangibly. granted you'll find more of the intangibles in scripture but don't negate the tangible god blesses us because when god brings things through us to others some of it sticks do you understand that yeah some of it sticks and we're blessed in different ways But when we're in the zone, God will bless our lives. What does that look like? I don't know. Did God tell Abraham exactly? Well, generally, and you'll notice too, that God gave Abraham promises and he stepped out on those promises.

17:20 The Bible per se is not a book of explanations. God doesn't sit down and go, okay, now here's why. Okay, Abraham, here is why I want you to leave Ur of the Chaldees. You see, you stopped short in Haran, and you shouldn't have stopped short, because geographically speaking, no, no, no, God didn't say that. God said, go. God said, go from your country. Go forth from it, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land I'll show you. That was it. So the fortune of faith, Genesis 12, two through four, I'll make you a great nation. I mean, that's a pretty, pretty fortunate thing, isn't it? I'll bless you. Make your name great. You shall be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you and the ones who curse you. I will curse.

18:16 And then all the families of the earth will be blessed. So Abraham went forth as the Lord has spoken to him, and Lot went with him. There he is again. Now Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. You might think, Ed, I'm just too old for this. No, you're not. Ed, you have no idea how far away from God I've been. I mean, I'm a pagan. Doesn't matter. God can and will bless you. He will restore the years the locusts have eaten. What a promise.

19:01 And that's to every person over 70 years old here. No, it's everyone. I just thought that was a Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 It says without faith it's impossible To please him Okay For he who comes to God must believe that he is And that he is a rewarder What? A rewarder You've got to be kidding me Of those who Diligently Seek him Are you receiving the rewards Of God? Are you? You should be. If you're in the zone, you're going to be receiving rewards. well, the plot clots.

19:54 We have to understand, here's my last sentence as I talk about this point. By faith, man gives God pleasure. And through faith, God gives man treasure. Drop the mic. Now let's talk about something a little bit negative, a little bit negative, because Abraham had a faith fumble, you know, a turnover. You've got to minimize those turnovers, don't you? But we're still in the zone. We're going to mess up. We're going to fumble the ball. And that's what Abraham did. And let me give the cliff notes. Abraham is in the zone. He's in Canaan. And we have to realize Canaan was called the land of milk and honey. What he didn't realize is in the land of milk and honey, sometimes the milk sours and sometimes the bees sting.

20:50 Are you feeling me? A famine hit him. Living in the zone is not famine-free, friends. I hate to say this. Well, I say I hate to say it because it's such a tough situation. This is the anniversary of our daughter's Libeth's passing from dislife into heaven.

21:19 Four years ago today, she left planet Earth and stepped into heaven. and it's been, quite frankly, in a lot of ways, a hellacious journey for Lisa and I and our entire family. No doubt about it.

21:46 And Lisa and I, not perfectly, have been in the zone for a long time. Again, not perfectly. Yet, this occurred I mean, obviously God doesn't cause anything like that to happen It just occurred because of our fallenness And all sorts of bad choices he made, etc. But, even during this hellacious time God, I don't know how he's done it Has blessed our lives Now, the best passing is not a blessing I'm not saying that, are you kidding me? No way But I'm saying We have been on the receiving end Even during that time Of the blessings of God The peace The purpose The vulnerability the community and connectivity of people and of the church.

22:59 It's a it's really interesting so if you are going through a famine in Egypt you might go well I'm no longer blessed that's that's not true that's not true that's a lie from the pit of hell let's go back to Abraham a famine was in the land can you believe Abraham didn't pray about it he was just like well he didn't seek the Lord no counsel just well you know God gave me common sense man I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do that's what he said and I've made that mistake so many times you're on a roll you know a faith roll and things are popping.

23:54 And then all of a sudden, it's like, yeah, you know, I'm the man, I'm smart. My creativity made me a fortune. My ingenuity built this church. Whatever we say, and then we kind of slide out of the zone. You won't believe where he went. he went down to Egypt.

24:22 Egypt, Egypt was a crazy place. It would make Las Vegas seem conservative. Abraham goes down there because there's a famine. See, God wanted to work and deliver him and do all these great things, but he's like, no. So he drags Lot with him down to Egypt and he tells a lie. His wife was a biblical babe. Sarah, I'm talking gorgeous. And he lied about her. And, you know, it was a half truth. But, you know, a half truth is a whole lie, if you thought about that. People are like, well, I exaggerate. Yeah, it is. It is. So he said, hey, Sarah, I'm going to tell everybody you're my sister. Because if they find out we're married, they're going to kill me, and you'll be a part of the harem.

25:15 So he lied. And while he was there, though, this guy, everything he touched, I mean, just blew up. He collected all this cattle. And that's random, and the Bible talks about that. I thought, why cattle? Well, Abraham was a sheep herder, not a rancher.

25:36 And you know those cattle ended up messing him up later on. We'll talk about that next week. Is that crazy? Just a little stupid decision. I'm going to make more money. I'm going to get into the cattle business, not business, business, you know. So then Lot, for the first time, sees Las Vegas. Oh, my goodness. He's like, wow, there's another world out there. Sin city, you know. What happens in Egypt stays in Egypt, Lot thought. Well then, through a crazy set of circumstances, Abraham comes to his senses and he comes back into the zone. But I want to tell you what Lot did though. This is interesting. Okay, Lot saw Las Vegas and he never got Vegas out of himself because later on, you remember when Abraham said, okay, Lot, you can choose either left or the right. And Lot chose Sodom and Gomorrah because Sodom and Gomorrah was exactly like Egypt.

26:41 Why did he choose that? Because he wanted to go to Las Vegas. It's interesting, isn't it? So Abraham bounces back. He ping-pongs to Egypt, and now he's back. And this is the repentance part. This is so, so, so rich. And you know, the Bible says this. I'm going to throw this verse in, Isaiah 31.1. it says, woe to them that go down to Egypt for help. Stay in the zone, baby. Stay in the zone. Because when you get out of the zone, here's a quick sermon in one minute. You'll waste your time. You'll waste your testimony. Think about the horrible testimony he was to those Egyptian heavy hitters. And then you'll bring back trouble. What? Now, wait a minute, Ed. Okay, remember, Lot was in Egypt.

27:34 He ping-ponged back to the zone. He brought two things back with him. He brought back trouble with him. He brought back wealth and a woman. What do you mean? Okay, he brought back wealth. He gained a lot of wealth in Egypt. This guy could do it, man. He was a dealmaker. But then he saw this hot biblical babe named Hagar. And he thought, she'd be perfect for a nanny. So Hagar comes in the fold. And later on, I know I'm giving you a lot of information, but this is huge. As I always say, information without application is an abomination. We're going to apply this in a second. So Hagar becomes a baby mama for Abraham. Her son is named Ishmael.

28:41 The whole Arab world. And even today, they are jamming, right, the Arabs, the sons of Abraham. just check the news out we are going to go to Israel again this is kind of a decide we had the best trip ever planned and crazy war started but now we have a real leader in the White House we'll be able to go back. I've got to say this I probably shouldn't but I will I've never seen a leader in my life like Joe Biden who made every single wrong decision you can make I've never seen it and praise the Lord and I'm not saying that politics is the answer but praise the Lord we are back to where we should be as a nation and we're in that direction that honors God and the things of God because we were founded and are founded on Christian principles.

30:03 I know I got off the subject, but I don't know. I just wanted to say that. I lost my place. I was talking about Hagar, right? Ishmael. Well, Abraham, I know where I am. Abraham repented. Isn't that great? He was so far gone in Las Vegas. he repented, came back, and the Bible says he came back to the beginning. He came back to Bethel. Bethel. Genesis 13, verse 3, means the house of God. I'm so thrilled that all of you are in the house of God. I'm so thrilled.

30:59 Some of us need to repent today. Some of us need to be restored today. Some of us need our lives rebooted today. And if it can happen with a pagan like Abraham who became a preacher, it can happen to you and me. Isn't God great? The grace and the mercy of God. speaking of Israel and I'm going to close with this one you know a speaker should never say I'm closing but I just did it just to say that a speaker shouldn't say that that's why I said it there are two bodies of water in Israel you've got the Sea of Galilee and I've been to the headwaters you know the water just screaming down the mountains 9,000 feet high It's just the Sea of Galilee is fresh.

32:02 It's life-giving. It's beautiful. So the Sea of Galilee receives it, and then the Sea of Galilee gives some of it up to another place, the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is dead. Nothing lives there. Salty and poisonous and laden, and nothing happens there. A little bit of evaporation, that's about it. but it stops right there in the Dead Sea.

32:34 Question, are you a Sea of Galilee or are you a Dead Sea person? If you're a part of the Sea of Galilee, you receive, you're blessed to be a blessing and you give. If you're part of the Dead Sea, you're like, Oh, that's just for me. Only you can answer that question. You know, we all want to bless others. We're blessed to be blessings. We want to bless our kids. And Abraham started a domino effect, didn't he? That's being felt today because he lived in the zone. Not perfectly, but he lived in the zone.

33:30 And we can do the same thing, friends. Right now. my name is Sam Kelly and I lead the youth ministry at fellowship church but we do what we do because the stats are in for the next generation and to be honest with you they just don't look good self-harm among teenagers has nearly tripled suicides have increased by 150 percent 90% of a child's morals and values are formed by the age of 16. And yet your average child or student doesn't attend church except for maybe once a month. After the age of 19, young people only have a 6% chance of becoming a follower of Christ. And right now, only 4% of Gen Z has a biblical worldview, which is lower than any generation ever. But what if there was a way to start a domino effect that could change all of that?

34:33 Wouldn't you want to do something about it? Well, there is. It's telling someone about Jesus, one life at a time. The next one reaching the next one. This is a story about a girl named Arlie. She was one of those next ones. My name is Arlie Villanueva and I was the next one. I'm in eighth grade. At school I was going through like a lot of bullying and stuff. I just can't say certain words, just like a speech impediment kind of. I had people say pretty nasty things about me, basically stuff about how I looked. I was in cheerleading so I wasn't a good cheerleader because I looked a certain way or I weighed certain way or I wasn't pretty because this boy didn't like me so I wasn't pretty and I had a really big eating disorder. I thought it had to be perfect to fit into the standard. I had really bad problems with self-harm and stuff and once somebody says something to you enough you start to believe it yourself. I thought I'm so incredibly tired of living. I just wanted to give up.

35:47 Arlie had attended Fellowship Church one time years ago and remembered the joy and hope she felt that day. In one final desperate plea, she called the church asking for help and received a phone call from one of our staff members named Danielle. Someone sent me this girl's contact and said she's going through some stuff personally and at home and just needed somebody to talk to. So I gave her a call and I invited her to come to church. It just broke my heart. I'm sitting there thinking, man, this girl has no idea how loved she is by her Heavenly Father and by her Creator who loves her and who made her fearfully and wonderfully. And I asked her, do you want a personal relationship with Jesus where every day you can carry the hope and the peace and the love and forgiveness that's found in Him and know that from this day forward, your eternity is secured in heaven? None of us can earn this. It's a free gift that God offers us.

36:44 And then I just asked her, do you want that? Like, of course I want that. Like, why wouldn't I want that? So we held hands across the table. We prayed a prayer together so that she could start that relationship with Jesus. And it was as simple as A, B, C. A, admitting that she had sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard, just as we all do. and that B, she believes that Jesus is God's son, that God sent him to live a perfect life, die a sacrificial death, and that he rose from the grave. And C, that she would choose to follow Jesus, turn from her sin, and commit her life to him. That for all of her days and all her ways, she wanted to follow him to the best of her ability and that she will do that, and she did that. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders, and I basically was just like, God, you were my last hope. Like, I just, I so badly want to live for the people in my life, like my mom, my dad. But I just, I couldn't do it.

37:42 I mean, so I basically was just like, God, I've seen what you've done in other people's lives, and I just want you to do that for me. And I just became a Christ follower. And now I'm crying. One life reaching another life. After Arlie made the decision to follow Christ, she went public with her faith through baptism. She began attending church regularly, finding the friendships she longed for and a purpose through serving others. Little did she know how God would use her to continue the domino effect and reach the next one, Frank, her father. My dad, I knew he was struggling and I knew what the church did for me. So I was like, hey dad, Like, do you want to come to church with me on Sunday? He was kind of hesitant at first, and then he was like, sure. Like, what do I have to lose?

38:35 Going through two divorces, had a hole in my soul, and I remember clear as day, something was nudging me. If you want to ask Jesus Christ right now to take control of your life, just simply pray this prayer. Lord, I admit to you I'm a sinner. I turn from my sins, and I turn to you, Jesus. I ask you to come into my life. I give you all that I am and all that I will ever be. I realized that I was a sinner and I needed a savior. If you prayed that prayer with me, you stand and step out and come forward and we'll baptize you today. I prayed a prayer and I just stood up. It was just a rush over me and told me that this is time, this is time for you to have a relationship.

39:29 And don't be scared. I was just like so proud of her. I was like, oh my goodness, like I've been waiting for this to happen. Another life reaching another life. Months later, Arlie attended our student retreat called New Year's at Alasso at our camp and retreat center, Alasso Ranch. Never could she have imagined what would happen next. My first day there, I was in the same cabin as a person that used to bully me. I feel my skin crawl. I feel like I'm going to be sick. What am I going to do? It dawned on me, if I'm asking forgiveness, why should I not forgive others? And I went up to her and I said, hey, this is kind of weird, but I just wanted to let you know that I completely forgive you for everything you did to me. And she just starts crying.

40:25 And she basically just says, like, I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did that. And I'm so proud of you for being where you are now and being happy in yourself. And she basically just said, like, I need your help. Like, I don't believe in Jesus like you do. And I just, I need to be saved like you've been saved. And I repeated everything Danielle said. And we prayed the ABC prayer. She gave her life to Jesus and she got baptized. It was so amazing seeing her and so many other students getting baptized that night. Knowing that you're part of the reason why somebody can spend eternity with Jesus. I think that's 10 times better than when I felt it for myself. It's amazing to think back about that one prayer has had such a domino effect, not just in Arlie's life, but in so many other people's lives as well. Without Arlie challenging me to come to church, I know I would not have made a decision to follow Christ. I wouldn't even be here right now if it wasn't for the next one telling the next one about Jesus.

41:26 And I am here because of it. And I have one mission in life and it's to reach the next one. How do we start a domino effect and change the future for others? It's one person telling another person about Jesus, our anchor of hope. The Bible says we have this hope in Christ as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. Stories like Arlie's are possible when you reach the next one and anchor their life to the hope that is only found in Christ. The next child searching for acceptance. The next student who doesn't know their worth. The next one fighting for their family, battling addiction, desperate for hope. So what's next at Fellowship Church to reach the next one and anchor them to Christ? The Anchor Project.

42:20 A two-year journey of faith to create 60,000 square feet of holy ground to reach the next generation of next ones. A student center like no other that will connect young people to their purpose. A safe harbor for our kids and youth to come together and find relationships that will help them discover and experience Jesus, our anchor. And with the challenges young families face today, we're building more opportunities than ever before to draw them in where they can find community tethered to the anchor. So is there hope for the next generation? Absolutely. And his name is Jesus. He's moving right now in unprecedented ways at Fellowship Church, one life at a time. The real question is, what will you do to let the domino effect continue? The time is now to reach the next one and the next one, anchoring them to Jesus Christ.