Heads up, class — this Sunday we’re meeting in The Chapel, not the Choir Rehearsal Room. Please spread the word to anyone who might walk to the wrong door.
Look at the picture. A whole company on the road — everything they own loaded on donkeys, last night’s camp already behind them. Nobody is home yet. And nobody is turning back.
By this stage of life, you know something about that road. You’ve buried people you love. You’re carrying prayers for children and grandchildren that are still unanswered — some you may not live to see answered. And the world you grew up in feels less like home with every passing year.
That is not the epilogue of the life of faith. That is the life of faith. Hebrews 11:13–16 calls people like that strangers and exiles — who saw the promise from afar, and greeted it anyway.
This Sunday, Don Sweat teaches “The Hope of Exiles” in our Faith Beyond Sight series. Come hear why God says He is not ashamed to be called their God — and come ready: Don will challenge us with one unfinished sentence: “Because I belong to God and trust His promised future, this week I will…”
Wear your Kingdom Come t-shirt · Bring honey buns & oranges · Practice the songs below
- Carpool departs at 5:20 PM from the HFBC Southeast parking lot (across from the Fitness and Recreation entry).
- Wear your Kingdom Come t-shirt.
- Bring honey buns and oranges.
- Practice the song(s) below — we’ll practice in class this Sunday too, so we can sing with confidence on the streets.
Last Sunday Carol Pierce brought us Sarah’s portrait in our Faith Beyond Sight series — a woman who waited 65 years barren, then 25 more years after the promise, and finally held Isaac at 90. Her faith had a single anchor: she considered him faithful who had promised (Hebrews 11:11).
1. A long road to the promise. Born in Ur of the Chaldeans, married young to Abraham, some 50 years in Haran — then a 500-mile walk to Canaan at age 65, still childless in a culture that read barrenness as a curse. Sarah gave up home twice and kept walking.
2. A faith that stumbled — and still made Hebrews 11. At 75, Sarah got ahead of God with the Hagar plan (Genesis 16) — consequences, Carol said, “we’re still living with today.” At 90, she laughed at the promise. Yet there she is in the hall of faith. As the class discussion landed it: you don’t have to be perfect — it’s not perfection God’s looking for, it’s our faithfulness. Faith, one member put it, is the overcoming of doubt.
3. Her own story of the impossible. Carol shared a story from her own family — years of infertility and miscarriages, a high-risk pregnancy the doctors said shouldn’t have carried — ending with a baby born at 36 weeks who went home the same day: “answer to prayer only.”
4. How to wait: look up, look back, look forward, look down. Carol’s closing formula for the wilderness of waiting — look up to God (know where to look when He feels far); look back at His faithfulness (“when the present seems desolate, plunder the past for hope”); look forward to His promises; look down at the path in front of you and walk it — “wait on the Lord through productive activity.”
Sarah’s story ends where ours begins — waiting. “None who wait for him shall be put to shame” (Psalm 25:3). The question she leaves us: what are you waiting for — and will you judge him faithful while you wait?
Missed Sunday? Watch the full lesson here.
Pastor Gregg opened Numbers 20 — the 40th year of the wilderness journey. Miriam has just died, there is no water, and two million people are quarreling against Moses and Aaron. Their problem was legitimate; their conclusion was not: they decided God had led them out to die — faithful to begin, but not to finish.
His central line: a legitimate problem does not justify an illegitimate conclusion about God. A dry season does not mean an absent God. For the believer, God’s character is never in doubt — He is always faithful, kind, good, loving, just, and holy.
When provision is hidden, seek the Provider and His plan. Moses and Aaron fell facedown at the tent of meeting (Numbers 20:6 — “circle it in your Bible”). Don’t run from God in your frustration; run to Him. Gregg’s own tent of meeting: a 2 a.m. ottoman and a morning chair with his Bible and his coffee.
Speaking is not striking. God said speak to the rock (Numbers 20:8) — not strike it, as in Exodus 17. Same God, different methods: “God doesn’t use formulas. God uses faithfulness.” Trust His word, not your strength.
Let your obedience be greater than your frustration. Moses spoke to the people instead of the rock, called them rebels, and struck twice in anger — and it cost him the Promised Land. “Mad decisions are bad decisions.” Three helps for anger: realize it doesn’t work long-term (it’s selfish, and it’s a secondary emotion — ask what’s underneath: hurt? fear? insecurity?); repent and ask God for help; walk with God so you walk in the fruit of the Spirit.
And the grace note: the water still flowed. “God’s grace, not our anger, brings God’s provision.” The Rock was struck once — on the cross — so that we can simply speak: “Jesus, save my soul.” He is the living water (John 7).
Try this week. Name your “no water” place — the legitimate need where you’re tempted to draw an illegitimate conclusion about God — and take it to your tent of meeting instead of your anger. And ask his closing question: where are you cottonmouthed in your soul? Turn to Jesus, the living water.
Missed the message? Watch it here.
Day of Baptism — tomorrow, Oct 25. If you’ve been putting off that step, this is the week to say something — and a baptism Sunday is always a great Sunday to bring a friend. Reminder: our class meets in The Chapel this Sunday; the Choir Rehearsal Room is being used for baptisms.
Night of Prayer, Mon Oct 26, 7–8:30p, Chapel. This month we pray for the persecuted church — and Chick-fil-A starts at 6:30p. Fits our class’s prayer culture to a T.
Night of Worship, Sun Nov 1, 6:30p, Worship Center. An evening of corporate singing, reflection, and prayer with the Houston’s First worship band, team, and choir.
The Chosen — Season 6, Episode 1: special early-access showing Sun Nov 8, 5:15p on The Lawn.
Encore folks: Monday Morning Mingle, Mon Oct 26, 10a–Noon, Rm 132 — special guest Maria Estrella, HFBC’s Director of HR. And the Shangri-La Botanical Gardens day trip, Fri Nov 6 — meet 8a, depart 8:30a from the Loop West lot; lunch on your own at the Old Orange Cafe. Limited space for both — register at HoustonsFirst.org.
Save the dates: Then Sings My Soul hymn-sing, Nov 11 (6:30p, The Loop). An Evening with Dr. Peter J. Williams: Can We Trust the Gospels? — Nov 13 (7p, Downtown). TOYMAKER, the new interactive Christmas musical, Dec 11–13 — tickets on sale now. And the AD Players’ The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Sat Dec 19 matinee ($46, orchestra tier) — limited tickets, worth an early decision.
For the grieving: Surviving the Holidays meets Nov 10 (6:45p) — gentle support heading into the holidays. Share it with someone who needs it.
One-liners: LoopedIn! is the church’s new digital updates channel — worth a follow. And Let Freedom Ring: A Guide for Christian Voters is available ahead of the Nov 3 election.
Encore is our church’s ministry for adults 55+, with trips, retreats, and gatherings all year long.
For Encore information click here →
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