Hebrews 11-12

Hebrews 11
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2011;&version=50;

Hebrews 12
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2012;&version=50

I like to read this passage imagining the Spirit of God as a football coach, giving a halftime speech to His players, who may be feeling outmatched and unwilling to go out for the second half. I will try to paraphrase it in that way:

Some of you boys may be thinking you don't have what it takes it to win this game. You're beat up and I know you're even thinking about quitting right here on the spot. But let me tell you something. You DO have what it takes. You know how I know that? Because you have FAITH. You may be sitting here thinking that I'm crazy, that FAITH by itself is not enough, that you need more than that. But let me tell you something else, FAITH is enough. Look at the players who played here before you. Great players who won many championships. Were they any better than you? NO! The only thing special about them was that they had the same FAITH that you have. Look at some of these guys, you all know who they are: Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephtha, David, Samuel, need I go on? These men and women did GREAT things, ENDURED much and some willingly died HORRIBLE deaths. But we can see by the rest of their lives that they were not any braver, stronger or smarter than anybody sitting here. And not only that, these men and women had never seen the promise of Jesus Christ fulfilled, like you have. But their FAITH in Him, the same FAITH you have, was enough. And it is MORE THAN ENOUGH for you too!

Now listen, you guys don't yet even know half of the STRENGTH, ENDURANCE and COURAGE that your FAITH is able to give you. So men, lets get back on that field and do battle. Do battle for the One who for the joy that was set before Him, never second-guessed , never pulled back, never stopped fighting against sin, all the way to the shedding of his own precious blood. Lets GO DO IT!