Things Unseen

Good morning and welcome in. Today I wanted to take a look at a passage of scripture but before we do that I wanted to tell you a little story.

How many of you have been driving on a beautiful sunny day when the highway in front of you suddenly became damp? Maybe you didn’t get rain where you originally came from, but you can tell that it rained there because the highway is soaked and filled with puddles. If you were to walk out to the kitchen table one morning and saw some spilled milk and cereal on the floor, what would you think might have taken place in that room earlier that day? Although you didn’t see firsthand what went on, it would be a pretty good guess that someone had eaten cereal for breakfast before they left for school. Imagine going out to your front yard to see if your son was cutting the lawn. Although you didn’t see him, you could tell that he had been busy because the exhaust manifold on the lawn mower was still hot.

This reminds me of the Christian Life.

Evidence is any information that causes you to believe that something has happened, or something that gives great indications that a certain proposition is true. Those who are faithful to the teachings of our beloved Lord Jesus are the evidence of the unseen things of God. 

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Hebrews 11:1

The life of the Apostle Paul and the activities that surrounded his daily life are proof that something was going on that people couldn’t see. There is much more going on in this world than what meets the eye. Like Moses, our faith in the invisible God is evidence to an unbelieving world. When you think about it, why would any man of God spend their entire life preaching Jesus if they knew in their heart that He wasn’t real? Don’t you think that there would have been many other things that they would have done with their lives? Why would anybody become a fireman if they never expected to fight a fire? Why would anybody spend years planning to go to the Moon, if they never expected to get there? They had certain expectations that something was coming in the future. The Apostles were anticipating the coming Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and prepared themselves accordingly. They dedicated their lives to teaching and preaching Christ Jesus, so that people could be saved from sin, and its future punishments by God.

It is faith that caused John the Baptist to preach and baptize out in the Jordan River. All over the world, people are ordained by men, but just like the Apostle Paul, John had been ordained by God. It is his faith that caused him to do the things that he did. He didn’t need to answer to some religious leader because he knew what God wanted to be done and did it. Do you think he did it for money? How foolish. He lived an austere life, and spent his time preaching about what was coming in the future. His life was evidence to this world of the truth of the coming judgments of God.

Luke 7 ²⁴……..What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? ²⁵ But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts. ²⁶ But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet.

Noah is another example of a man who was chosen by God. Like John the Baptist, he greatly feared God and knew that the Earth was going to be destroyed in a flood. He warned the world, and His faith was the evidence of the unseen things of God.

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Hebrews 11:7

“And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;” 2 Peter 2:5

For thousands of years, faithful men have proclaimed God’s impending judgment upon sin, yet many people refused to believe them. The life of Moses was evidence unto Pharaoh, but rather than accept the truth, he continually mocked the true and living God. Because of this, God punished him with plagues and pestilence and eventually cut him off. God has not changed since then, and it continues today for all those who reject the message of His chosen servants.

Exodus 9 ¹³ And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. ¹⁴ For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. ¹⁵ For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.

The life of Jonah was evidence to the Ninevites, but unlike Pharaoh, the King greatly feared God. He received and believed the Word that was spoken by His prophet Jonah. Because of this, God showed them Mercy. 

Jonah 3 ⁴ And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. ⁵ So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. ⁶ For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷ And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: ⁸ But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. ⁹ Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? ¹⁰ And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. 

What do people need to convince them to repent? What do people need to turn from their wickedness? The proof that God is real is contained in the testimony of His servants, because their faith is the evidence of…..

…. Things unseen

Let’s think about these things for right now.  We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc  where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.♥️