Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. Hebrews 11:2 NRSV
The currency of Heaven
When you go to HEB or Trader Joe’s to buy groceries, they let you walk out of the store with a basketful of food simply because you have inserted a special piece of plastic into a special machine, or because you shove some special pieces of paper into the hands of the clerk.
When you go online to Amazon to buy (any product you can think of) you select what you want, type in a long string of number located on that same special piece of plastic, and then sit back and wait. In a day or two, voilà, all your stuff is at your front door.
What happens when your employer pays your salary, or you receive your Social Security payment? Some packets of data are transmitted from one computer to another computer somewhere in the bowels of your bank. Bits of magnetic material are rearranged to indicate that you may now go and buy some more stuff at HEB or Amazon.
What fuels underlies all of these transactions? Modern transportation technology? The hard work of millions of fellow Americans? The internet? Your smartphone? All these are necessary, but none are sufficient to explain our complex society. One fundamental fact enables it all.
It’s called “faith.”
Faith that the stuff you buy at Trader Joe’s won’t poison you. The clerk exhibits faith that your special plastic card really does represent money in the bank. You have faith that Amazon will actually deliver stuff to you in a few days even though you’ve already paid them. Everyone, everywhere in the world acts as if our US dollar is actually worth something. Just imagine what it would be like if we didn’t have that shared faith. Civilization as we know it would collapse.
This weekend at Trinity Downtown, we’ll be starting a new sermon series that explores how faith in Almighty God energized the life of famous men and women in the Bible. We’ll discuss how faith in God’s promises can revolutionize our lives. Come celebrate God’s reliability and love for us in our contemporary service on Saturday at 5:00 pm, and/or the traditional worship services on Sunday at 8:15 am and 10:50 am. Your kids won’t want to miss our “Kingdom Quest” pre-school and student gatherings, and you’ll enjoy making new friends and learning more about your faith in our expanded array of adult bible study classes, all held at 9:30 am on Sunday.
Following the Sunday worship services, you won’t want to miss the Houston Symphony Chamber Singers Homecoming Concert at 2:30 pm in the sanctuary. The Singers are a select group from the Houston Symphony Chorus who recently returned from a widely acclaimed concert tour of Germany and Poland. Their final concert was at the BachFest in Leipzig Germany at Thomaskircke, the church of J.S. Bach. Trinity Downtown is honored to host this homecoming performance. The concert is free and open to the public. Don’t dilly-dally with a long after-church lunch; we expect a large crowd!
Come learn how placing our faith and fears in the hands of Jesus can lessen our stress load and bring deep transformation in our hearts. Celebrate with us the depth of Jesus’ love for us and find out how you can live a life of significance, filled with meaning. Discover how following Jesus can help you and your family navigate around the minefields of life.
Come get a fresh jolt of spiritual energy at Trinity Downtown. It will make a tremendous difference in your life.