Speaker: Dr. Jay Leroux

Passage: Hebrews 11:8-19

HEBREWS 11:8-19

Good to see you this morning. Obviously, I’m extremely honored and privileged to be here to share. It’s been a fantastic week. My only bummer is I got only one more service with you– the next one– and only one more set of music, and then I go home. So, it’ll be good, though. We’ve been gone five weeks, so it’d be good to get back there again. 

And I want to say just what an honor and privilege it is to be a part of Vintage, for you to take time to be here this morning, your commitment to the work of God here and where the church is going. I feel privileged to be a part of the team and to be a part of your lives. 

Hebrews 11, we’re going to have some fun this morning. Whenever there is a first in the Scriptures, it’s something we need to take note of. I love Abel, Enoch, and Noah. Of course, Noah becomes the first of five times that there will be a pattern in the Heavens built in the earth– Jesus being the last of those patterns that will change the earth. Of course, Noah did that. 

But Abraham is the one I want to see this morning. He is the first of his kind. Before Abraham, there was no representation of the invisible God. All the nations of the world had gods, but no one represented the yet invisible God. 

Though He was the creator of all things, and by His word, everything was upheld, no one knew Him. Abraham will be a first. The greatest first of a kind, of course, would be Jesus. I would love to talk about Him, but for us to fully grab hold of Jesus and what He’s done for us, we really need to fully embrace and see Abraham this morning. 

HEBREWS 11:8

So, Hebrews 11:8, we’re going to stay right here in these verses, they’re beautiful. I’m going to read them and pray, and then we’ll get started. I just want us to walk through it. Hebrews 11. It’s not really a chapter of heroes, it’s just, thankfully, people who went before us and in their generation believed the impossible. 

Verse 8, “By faith Abraham, when he was called out to go to a place which he should afterward receive for an inheritance obeyed; he had no idea where he was going. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for his city which had foundations, whose builder and maker was God. Through faith, Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang even from one, him as good as dead, so many of the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and persuaded of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers of pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country–” the word really is the fatherland. “And truly, if they have been mindful of that from which they came out, they would have had opportunities–” kairos, is many, many seasons that they could have returned, but they didn’t. Verse 16, “But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence he also received him in a figure.” 

Now, I’m going to pray in a moment. I want to do something this morning for us. I want to take Abraham, and I want him to be my generation. I want to call my generation– that’s the grandfathers in this place and the great uncles, probably sixty-plus. We had one that was in his fifties, I had to move it up because he stood up earlier. I want to call our generation, this generation, the Abraham Generation. 

I want to call the Isaac generation, or my kids– my oldest is in her fifties. I want to call this generation Generation Now. Man, I’m stoked about Generation Now. I want to say something to Generation Now. Now, this is your time. It is now. Not next week, not next year, not when you mature in some way, or when I’m gone, or I can’t talk anymore. No, no, no, no, it’s your time now. 

I want to take the Jacob generation. My grandkids, I have six of them. I want to call them Generation Next. Yeah, I want to say something to Generation Now, the parents, just before I get started: you haven’t seen anything yet, what He intends to do with this generation. 

I get the great opportunity to be in Generation Joseph because I have two great-grandkids, so I’m looking over there, going, Mm-hmm, what did he do to the world? 

Let’s pray, Father. I thank You for this morning. Lord, just incredible. Our songs depict our hearts for You. Certainly, I could just remain at this one cry this morning, Be exalted in the earth. That’s the cry. 

I pray this morning for the revelation of Jesus Christ to be to us all, the revelation of this Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven simultaneously in You, a Kingdom that has no limitations, freely given to us. May we, with passion, apprehend it; by revelation, see it by manifestation. So, Father, I thank You for that. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM

I love the life of Abraham. Let me just start by saying this, this whole thing about faith: just chill a little bit. I grew up in what was called the faith movement. I strained just trying to have faith. You have it. So, all it takes is just simply believing, trusting, believing, and trusting, and on it goes, same thing. 

So, I love this: by faith, Abraham, when he was called out to go to a place that he should afterward have for an inheritance, obeyed, no idea where he was going. And I love this moment because Abraham is probably seventy-two, maybe seventy-one, the first time he hears, and this is somebody he’s never known before. 

And I love the moment because he doesn’t know who he is. I don’t even know how he understands. I don’t know how the Lord spoke to him, but he had no real religion. The Chaldeans, we know, were idol makers. 

And so, he decides, at seventy-five, with Sarah, his wife, to leave his home, house, everything. And I can imagine that Sarah’s going with him, and like my wife would say to me, Abraham, where we going? I don’t know. When do we know when we get there? I don’t know either. Are you sure you’re supposed to go? Absolutely. But you have no idea we’re going? 

Now, I want to take this because I want to do it this way with us this morning. I want to take it one verse at a time. I want to say to this generation. I didn’t realize it, though, at twenty-two, I had no idea what the Lord was intending to do in this generation, this Generation Now, for Generation Now, and for the next generation. 

At twenty-two, I made that decision, you had your time. I had no idea what I was doing. It came out of a traditional church. I didn’t even know what born again meant. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know He’s still alive. And at just a little prayer group, I just raised my hand and said yes to Him, and I knew that moment that I was to leave everything behind– family, life, everything, just like Abraham did, is exactly what we did. 

And the truth was, we went, had no idea we were going. And in truth, I’ve been doing it, and I’m still not sure where we’re going. I’m closer to it, though. 

And so, he is sojourning, is what the next verse says. By faith, he sojourns in the land of promise as a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob. Now, I want to talk about this, though. So, can you imagine, here he is, he’ll come, first with Sarah, for twenty-five years, and he will walk first, would be Beth Shemesh, he’ll walk down to Jericho, then he’ll come over to Nazareth, and he’s got this look on his face, he’s looking. 

See, they were nomadic. The word means pasture to pasture, that’s what it means. Now, I know that we, as Americans, you have a lot of liberty, and there are times that we leave relationships or friendships or, at times, even churches, but our nomadic nature is this: we are always to go from glory to glory to glory to glory to glory. And there’s no end to it if that’s our passion in our heart. 

So, here he is, and now Sarah’s wondering, and she’s pulling on a shirt though, Where you going? I don’t know. I know this though, I’m inheriting what He said I would inherit. Well, what is that, Abraham? I don’t know what it is, but I know I’m here. 

See, it’s not so much a strange country for Abraham. He’s going somewhere he’s never been before. And I want to say to all of us this morning, my generation, Generation Now and Generation Next, you tell them we had no idea, but He called us though, we are about to inherit something that we had never seen before, about to know something we never known before, and He’s about to do something we’ve never even seen before. We’ve been in the midst of it. 

I had no idea that He called my generation just by His choice, and we’ve been almost like wandering. I have so many friends, they’re hurt, they’re worn out, they’ve lost hope because they’ve been waiting for something. And when I ask them why? I don’t know, but I know, I know there’s something, and I know I haven’t found it. It’s not here yet. They’re exactly right. 

And so, for twenty-five years, he’s going back and forth. He’ll go from Beth Shemesh all the way to Hebron and back again and back again. And he’s stopping at every city, and he’s looking, and there’s something in him. We don’t see it until the New Testament reveals it. 

And so, he’s going back and forth for twenty-five years, and Sarah still asking him, and he just says, I don’t know, we just got to keep moving because I know that’s what He told me to do. And I’ve got to obey Him. He told me to look at the stars. I don’t know where it is, I can’t identify it. 

Even Isaac will be born, and for forty years, He’ll do the same thing with Isaac and Sarah, and he’ll go back and forth from Beth Shemesh, back down, and he’ll come to the coastline and back up into Jericho and back down the Hebron. He’ll stop at Bethlehem. 

And for forty years, Isaac will be asking, Dad, where are we going? And he goes, I don’t know. I know it’s here, but I don’t know what it is or where it is. I don’t know. And finally, Jacob would be born. 

And I love this. I want to say this to every mom and dad this morning. I’m so glad that when this text was written by the Hebrew writer, that he said Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I want you to know that they were heirs of the promise, Jacob was an heir of the promise long before he became Israel. His name means supplanter, liar. This guy doesn’t change. Somewhere between ninety-eight and one hundred and two, his whole life is nothing but lying and cheating. But because of Abraham, he was heir to the promise. 

I want to say to you, please hear me tonight: grandparents, uncles, aunts, moms, and dads, I don’t care where your kids are this morning. I don’t care what’s going on with your nieces and nephews. I don’t care what they’re saying. I don’t care what they believe or disbelieve. It doesn’t matter, they are heirs. He will come for them. He will come for them. He will come for them. 

Finally, Jacob. I love Jacob. He’s thinking, Dad, dad. What? Grandpa’s losing it. What do you mean? Come on, man, we’ve been to these cities so many times now. Yeah, I’ve been doing the same thing for forty years. Your grandmother, she doesn’t know where she is. She’s walking around like she doesn’t have any idea. She needs some brain rewiring. 

And finally, they get him, and Abraham’s almost frustrated, like many of my generation are. He goes, Grandpa, what is it? What are you looking for? He goes, I’ve been to all these cities. They’re beautiful, it’s incredible. The land is amazing, but it’s not what I’ve been looking for. They finally say, Well, what is it? He said, I was looking for something that God is the builder of. He designed it. He made it. I’m looking for something. It’s a city that only He could build. 

He would never see it. I know the New Jerusalem has twelve foundations. Probably allegorical, I don’t have an argument about that, but I know the city he’s passionate about, the same letter, we’ll talk about it in two chapters. It is Mount Zion. 

See, we weren’t called to Mount Sinai. He compares the two, where there was lightning and thunder, and everybody stood, and mountains shook, and God was in it, and voices, and even Moses feared and quaked because God was in this. 

What we understand is this dimension is glory. It’s scary. Oh, no, no. We didn’t come to that mountain. We came to Mount Zion, where the glory of God unveils Him, where the Lamb is the cornerstone thereof, and He’s building a city that we were to always dwell in, where God lives, not just visits. 

WAITING FOR THE PROMISE

See, without realizing it, my brothers and sisters, this generation, my generation, we didn’t realize this, though, but I thought we were hearing promises. I thought it was blessings. I thought it was ministry. I thought it was peace. I thought it was finances. I thought it was something of this world. 

Oh no, no. He gave that to a generation that didn’t even like Him. Oh no. He’s been passionate. He is wanting to bring something only He could bring, something from Him. And it’s been in us, I had no idea. I couldn’t identify it. 

So many of my friends are frustrated, so many of our generation, this generation, we just said, I don’t know what’s happened. It’s just not there. We told our children He would do it, and He hasn’t. He’s been doing something in our generation that we didn’t realize. We’ve got to have something that He’s the one who’s designed it, and He’s the builder of it. 

When I was in my early thirties, I was disillusioned with the church. She was losing power in my own life, really the first five years of my Christianity. From twenty-two to twenty-seven, Linda and I saw more miracles, we raised the guy from the dead. It was normal, and I saw the decline of it. 

And I began to get agitated with my forefathers. At that time, I was Generation Now, I was getting irritated with this generation, the Abraham Generation, my forefather’s generation. And I said, Look at us. How are we ever going to become the people, the womb of the church is dead.

Then I remembered this, He brought me back here, and I realized this: no matter how dead the church may appear, how dead her womb may be, this God will cause her to have new life, and He’ll cause her womb to live again, and every word He’s ever promised He will bring it to pass. 

So, no matter how you feel this morning, or what may be going on in some other place, some other city, no matter what you might feel about the church, He is about to cause her womb to live again. She will receive every seed, what He promised, He will do it. 

I love this. I’ve learned to love the waiting time. There’s been a great delay, you know. We live in such a delay. The frustrated ones will say to me, just in almost sorrow, I’m with them, my generation, especially older than me even. You know how long I’ve been waiting. I said, Yeah, I know, me too. I never thought it would be like this. I had a different dream. I said, Me too. I never thought it would be like this. He said, Then what do I do? I’m tired, I’m frustrated. Was the prophetic word true? Was the dream real? Were the things my pastor preached, were they true? 

I said, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. It’s here. See, these all died in faith. I told the first service up to the last two weeks ago I’ve lost twenty-two pastors or their wives since 2019. Men that I sat there and they taught me, we sat together, and we talked about the glory of God, which I know He’s gonna do, things I know He’s doing and going to do. And they looked at me with tears and going, Yeah, but where is it? I said, It’s a thing He’s doing. We’ve got to wait. How? It’s here. 

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but seeing them far off, sometimes the promise is so distant. I love what they did, they were persuaded of it. This generation, my generation, please, no matter how distant the promise looks or has appeared or is, let us this morning be freshly persuaded what He promised. He is able to perform. 

They were persuaded of, and they embraced it. I love this, and they made a confession in the embracing that they knew there were soldiers and pilgrims here. This was not their home, even though I love my home and I love everything about our world, I do. I dig it. I think it’s great. I love the beach, I love our world. 

But when I got born again, I was looking for something else, this world couldn’t satisfy it. They were just here representing the invisible God. They were here to live a life of faith, believing and trusting, trusting and believing, believing and trusting, to live this life. 

NOT GOING BACK TO THE PAST

And I feel for this whole Old Testament because they were looking for something, too. They weren’t sure what it was. They said, Jerusalem? No, no, no, no. Solomon’s temple? Yeah, but no, I mean, I don’t understand. And then they go on, it says, these say plainly that they’re seeking something from the fatherland. 

And I love this, watch. And if they had been mindful– I’m talking really to my generation, this generation– but Generation Now, I want you to hear this: if they had been mindful what the idea was, they kept looking back. I remember when church was easier. I just did my duty. Why don’t I just go ahead and live a normal life? Why am I chasing this? Why am I pursuing? Am I wasting my time? I just go back to older religion, older stuff, what I’m used to. Go back and drink of the old wells. What does it matter? 

And they said, No, we’ll never go back to anything old. And the writer begins to reveal something, and they’ll say, What do you mean you won’t go back? No, no, we can never go back. Then what’s going on with you? I gotta tell you, I can only say this way: we’re looking for something from Heaven. It’s got to be Heavenly. That’s what was in their hearts. 

I want you to know this generation, that’s exactly what He put in our hearts the day we got born again. I didn’t know. I thought it was ministry, big name, big books, big people. Hair on my head. My forefathers told me that is what this was about. I realized it wasn’t about that. It was about this thing He put into us that we had to have something from Him. It’s got to be Heavenly. It’s got to be according to the pattern. 

I want to say to Generation Now, I want you to know this generation, though, my generation, has fought me about Generation Now and Generation Next. They’ve said to me since I started working with them, they were teenagers, What are you doing with that group of kids? I don’t know. I mean, you see them, do you know what they’re doing? I said, I do. Do you have something to say to them? I do, actually, I got it from somebody who’s really saying something about them. 

I said, You will not believe what He’s been saying about Generation Now. He is determined– please hear this– that in this generation, my generation, He’s changing everything. It will no longer be as it has been. It can’t be. But I’ve asked Him, I’ve said to Him, and I know He’s going to return the power of God back to us unprecedentedly. I know that I’ve been saying that for decades. I know that that’s part of it. 

My cry to Him, it says, Please do not let us have the power of the Kingdom of God without the unveiling and the manifestation of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us not be a people of power without the character, the nature, the disposition, the preeminence, the passion for Him every single day. We’ve got to have both. 

And He’s determined, please hear me, grandfather and grandmother, I’m glad He’s picked out our generation. I feel for my brothers, I’ve had many brothers have gone back, way back, back to old life simply through the church. Men and women I went to Bible college with, they’re just through. They’re not going to do it anymore. 

They said, Jay. I’m telling you right now the prophecies were not true. I’m telling you right now it was all a lie, all this sin, it was going on. And I listened to them, my heart breaks. I’m travailing from my generation because of the delay, they’re wondering, Was any of it true? 

And I say to them, I want you to know something about our God: He is faithful to do everything He said. But because we’ve been waiting and waiting, I know, been living there, but He intended for our generation to prepare the world for what He’s intending to do. 

Oh, please, my generation, we’re going to do it in a moment, let us once again see the promise. I don’t care how far back it went, the first dream, first prophetic word, first time we were ever spoken to. The Gospel became alive to me. I never even heard it. Go back there. Let’s once again be persuaded of what He has said, especially the sure word of prophecy, and let us fully embrace it. 

GOD IS MOVING IN GENERATION NEXT

I want to say to Generation Now, it’s a moment that I know, we know, I just want to say it this way: He takes Isaac, and he leaves Sarah. I mean, the moment I would just love to play out, but again, she must have looked and thought, This was the dream, this was the covenant, this was the problem, this was everything. I mean, there’s no Isaac, there’s no future. There’s no generations. He’s it all.

And Abraham’s gonna walk away with him, and probably just look back at her, he’ll build an altar, and even Isaac will say, What’s up with this dad? It’s okay. Where’s the sacrifice? It’s okay. And he’ll lay this kid up here, the whole world, every promise, everything is in this young man, Isaac, he is the promise. 

And he’ll raise a knife up, and you know this, the angel will stop him. But the New Testament will look back there and say to us: when he laid Isaac up there, even if he was dead, he knew this God would raise him from the dead. 

I want to say to Generation Now, who I love, Generation Next. I’m more pumped, He is saying things to Generation Next that my generation could hardly believe they’re in there. I want to say to Generation Now, we’ve taken you– not just you believing portion, I want to say to the whole generation around the world– we have taken your generation and put you on the altar. 

I want to say this very clearly, please hear it. I don’t care what my generation says about your generation. I don’t care what the news says. I don’t care what media says. I don’t care what they say. It doesn’t matter. This God has dreamed big for Generation Now. He’s dreamed large for Generation Now. He’s intending to do something that is at such biblical proportion that the world has never seen it before. 

I want you to know this, though, please hear me, even if your generation is dead, looks dead, hopeless, no way can be alive, this God will raise your generation from the dead. They’re my children. They’re ours. They’re our neighborhood kids. They’re in our school systems now. Don’t be afraid of anything. Don’t fear anything. 

I want this generation, sixty and up, stand please. If you’re a grandparent, then stand for sure. Yeah, by the way, this is the new grandparent, seventy is the new forty. I just changed it, used to be fifty. I changed it to forty. Yeah, hear that, Pastor Gary? 

I know we’re not special because I know me. I know that when He called me, He didn’t get much at all. I know that. In fact, I still wonder why I know what I’m supposed to do, but I’m just still awed that He would call me. I had no idea, though, that my generation, my life, was going to be the very time period He was going to change the course of history through the church. 

So see, I know we’re tired, we’re weary. For many of our family, we want to go back to the charismatic movement. We’re not going back anywhere. This Guy’s not a go-back; He’s a go-forward. 

So, I’m going to pray. It’s not a prophetic word, but I got this strength to declare some things over us. I’m going to do it to renew our strength, just to get back into the race again. Even if you can’t run, you’re in the race, even if you’re in bed, you’re in the race. It’s not about running, it’s here. You want to renew passion. 

You say, Jay, it’s far off. I know that. Let’s be persuaded of it. Even when I’m saying now this morning, let’s be persuaded of it. Let’s embrace it. You remember Abraham laid out the sacrifice waiting for God? Why don’t you go take a nap? No way. I’m waiting for Him. Yeah, but it’s late. I know, He’ll come. Yeah, but it’s early morning now. I don’t care. And then the buzzards came. That’s how it’s felt like in our lives. Keep the buzzards on. I don’t care. I know He’ll come. I know He’ll come, and He’ll do all that He said. 

This generation, my brothers and my sisters, I get the honor of talking to us. I’m talking to me. I’m here to encourage us again. Yo, yo, yo, when He came for us, He knew exactly what He was getting. Oh, we didn’t look like much, long hair, kind of stupid looking, attitude, rock and roll freaks. 

You know what they said about us? All this time that you stayed faithful and you obeyed, we had no idea why. I just want to declare to us renewed strength, renewed hope, renewed faith, renewed passion. And I don’t care what our kids are doing, just embrace them. 

Lord, thank You that You’ve honored us. Have we sacrificed? Absolutely. Have we done without? Absolutely. Are we still, in some ways, wounded? Absolutely. Or, in some ways, do we really don’t know where we’re going? Absolutely. Just like Abraham. 

But we knew in our lifetime we were here to inherit something, but we didn’t know what it was. Thank You for holding back the lessers, not just feeding our appetites, not just causing our world to be better, You came with the intent to change it all. 

Renew my brothers’ and sisters’ strength, in the name of the Lord Jesus, by the Word of the Lord, let it not just stay in this room, let it penetrate the earth this morning. Let this generation, as feeble as we may appear, as sick as we may appear, and tired and weary, let us be renewed to once again embrace You, believing that what You had promised, even if it’s hope against hope, let us be fully persuaded that what You had promised You are able to perform it. Amen.