Have Faith
Hebrews 11:1-6 – Victory Fellowship
August 23, 2026 - Rev. Roderick Grabski
I. Introduction:
a. This past summer marked 13 years that we started worshipping as a new congregation – first at GMCC in the old Catholic church, and then as Victory Fellowship in November 2013 to downtown Barberton for 13 months, and now this building where we had our first service on Christmas Eve 2014.
i. Jaime and I, along with all of you, by Faith, answered the call to start a church.
ii. We are here by faith.
b. FAITH is the issue of this passage in Hebrews
i. In fact, Faith is the issue of the whole book
ii. PISTOS = used in Hebrews more than in any other NT book (24 times in chapter 11 alone)
c. I want to focus especially on verse 6: it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
d. Faith pleases God and I believe that God wants more for us than we can even imagine!
II. We all know People without Faith:
a. Who don’t go to church and who don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ. These folks are loved by God and He wants them in His kingdom.
b. Specifically, when it comes to going to church they usually have one of three reasons why they “don’t have faith.”
i. They may think church is DULL and Boring
ii. They may think the things the church believes are NOT TRUE.
iii. They may think the church is IRRELEVANT to their life.
III. There are also people who call themselves “Christians” but do not have faith:
a. One can almost understand why non-believers have these ideas, but some people who claim to be Christian also think the same (Boring, Untrue, Irrelevant)
b. They believe that the way to please God is by doing good deeds, being kind and generous, volunteering in the community, and not judging others. (sort of like Barney the Dinosaur)
c. While they say they believe in God, they don’t attempt or trust anything that is outside of their control or immediate resources.
d. This is a problem with the church today. People don’t attempt great things for God because they don’t have faith that God can do greater things in their life and their church than what they can do for themselves. They trust only their intellect. (Eph 3:20 – exceedingly abundantly)
e. The way to please God is by trusting His Word and having faith in His son Jesus Christ
i. Jesus told Thomas John 20:29 – blessed are those who have not seen, but believe
IV. Application:
a. Hebrews is written to people who believed there is a God but needed to be reminded of what God has done in history, their history, and how crucial a role Jesus Christ has in God’s plans.
i. They did not act like they trust God to guide their life and the things they can’t see.
ii. The author uses the real-life examples of people like Abel and Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, even Esau, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, and he mentions Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets
iii. All these people had faith even though they died before they saw the fruition of their faith.
b. Before we can have faith in what we can do as a church, we need to have faith in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
i. Some people know the bible, they know about the life of Jesus, they come to church about every week, but they don’t know Jesus personally.
ii. Statler Bros – Official historian on Shirley Jean Burrell
iii. THE BEST way for us to grow is for people to see Christ in us and be drawn to Him.
V. Conclusion
a. Hebrews 12:1-2: Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
b. Folks who hear a message like this respond to a call to faith in Jesus in one of three ways:
i. They say yes, I am a Christian and I have that kind of faith. If that’s you today…we need your help to grow our church.
(encourage them to have faith beyond their comfort zone)
i. Or they say I’m interested but I want to know more. (Skeptical) If that’s you today…
ii. Or they scoff and say that mumbo jumbo just isn’t for me. (Cynical) If that’s you today…
c. Without faith, it is impossible to please God
i. We are here by faith
ii. We go FROM here by faith
iii. In our faith, God is Glorified
PRAYER
SONG: Days of Elijah
Hebrews 11:1-6 (NLT) Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. 2 Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation. 3 By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. 4 It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith. 5 It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. 6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.