4 Oct 2026
By Faith Sarah Received Power To Conceive
Do you ever find yourself getting impatient with God? Is there something that you are waiting on him for right now? If you were a fly on the wall in my home or office, you may often hear me, in frustration, singing the chorus to that Tom Petty song, “The waiting is the hardest part!” We all understand that waiting isn’t easy!
This week, as we once again turn to Hebrews 11 (https://biblia.com/bible/esv/hebrews/11), we will look at Sarah (and Abraham’s) faith. While they boldly trusted God’s call to leave their home, they then spent years waiting for the fulfillment of his promise that they would become “a great nation”! During this time, we see at different points that their faith wavered.
In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “…I am sure that God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait.” While waiting can be hard and we don’t always understand it, we can trust that God is always at work, that he will be glorified, and that it is for our good! Whatever it is that you are waiting on God for today, you can trust that he is faithful to us and works with us even when our faith wavers!
Series: By Faith
Message 5: By Faith Sarah Received Power To Conceive
Text: Hebrews 11:11-12
Nathan Hooper
Harvest Alliston
October 4, 2026
As a person who has been called to follow God, I can be confident that he will…
…work even when my faith is weak (v.11a)
“Appearances can be deceptive. The fact that we cannot see what God is doing does not mean that He is doing nothing. The Lord has His own timetable. It is we who must learn to adjust to it, not vice versa. When God’s time comes nothing will stand in His way. We can therefore wait for Him with this happy confidence…His way is perfect.”
– Sinclair Ferguson, Discovering God’s Will
…faithfully keep his promises (v.11b)
Numbers 23:19
It is true that the faith, which I am enabled to exercise, is altogether God's own gift; it is true that He alone supports it, and that He alone can increase it; it is true that, moment by moment, I depend upon Him for it, and that, if I were only for one moment left to myself, my faith would utterly fail.
– George Müller
Faith is as strong as the object of our belief, Jesus Christ. It does not depend on how “hard” we try. We may be…those of (little) faith, but Jesus is invincibly powerful. Our hope then is not relegated to our spiritual impotence but bound to the greater, mountain-moving power of Jesus Christ. In this way, we can come to Christ over and over again to make the same admission of the anguished father, “I do believe! Help my unbelief!”
– Matthew Everhard, Word by Word
Isaiah 25:1
Philippians 1:6
5 Reasons God Calls Us to Wait:
1) Because we live in a broken world
2) Because God is Sovereign
3) Because God is a God of Grace
4) So we can minister to others
5) For the increase of God’s glory
– Paul Tripp, 5 Reasons Why God Calls Us to Wait
…he will do more than I expect (v.12)
Philippians 2:6-8
Ephesians 2:4-10
Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.
– Corrie Ten Boom
