Hebrews 11:1-2, 32-12:2
July 20, 2025
preached by Pastor Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“Biblically speaking, faith and faithfulness stand to each other as root and fruit.”

~J. Hampton Keathley (1939-2002), American pastor and writer

“The world might stop in ten minutes; meanwhile, we are to go on doing our duty. The great thing is to be found at one’s post as a child of God, living each day as though it were our last, but planning as though our world might last a hundred years.”

~C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)

“The road to the Kingdom is not so pleasant, and comfortable, and easy, and flowery, as many dream. It is not a bright sunny avenue of palms. It is not paved with triumph, though it is to end in victory. The termination is glory, honor, and immortality; but on the way, there is the thorn in the flesh, the sackcloth, and the cross. Recompense later; but labor here! Rest later; but weariness here! Joy and security later; but here endurance and watchfulness – the race, the battle, the burden, the stumbling block, and oftentimes the heavy heart.”

~Horatius Bonar (1808-1889), Scottish poet and hymnodist

“He is not looking for heroics. He’s looking for those who are willing to follow him down that road of sorrows no matter how tiny the form that cross may take.”

~Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015), Christian missionary, author, speaker

“Thanks be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which you have given me, for all the pains and insults which you have borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, may I know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day.”

~Richard de Wych (1197-1253), English bishop

“Faith, if it is to be sure and steadfast, must lay hold upon nothing else but Christ alone, and in the conflict and terrors of conscience it has nothing else to lean on but this precious pearl Christ Jesus.”

~Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Sermon Passage

Hebrews 11:1-2, 32-12:2 (CSB)

Hebrews 11

¹ Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. ² For by this our ancestors were approved…

³² And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, ³³ who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight. ³⁵ Women received their dead, raised to life again. Other people were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. ³⁸ The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

³⁹ All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰ since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.

Hebrews 12

¹ Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, ² keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.