Faith That Carries You Forward
Priceless Lessons from Dr. Price — May 3, 2026
Faith That Carries You Forward
Schrader Lane Church of Christ • Dr. Richard Price • Hebrews 11:1–2
“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for. It is the evidence of things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.”
Hebrews 11:1–2 (New Living Translation)
4 Truths About Faith That Carries You Forward
Truth 01
Faith Is Substance Before It Is Ever Sight
Faith is the foundation you stand under — invisible once the structure is built, but essential to everything above it. What are you standing on?
Hebrews 11:1Truth 02
Faith Moves Without a Map
Abraham left home without knowing where he was going. Abel gave his best before the rules were written. Faith acts on God’s word before the way is clear.
Hebrews 11:4, 8Truth 03
Faith Does Not Require Full Clarity
The ancestors died without receiving the full promise — yet never abandoned their belief. Their hope was anchored in a heavenly homeland, not earthly fulfillment.
Hebrews 11:13–16Truth 04
Faith Redefines What Success Looks Like
The faithful of Hebrews 11 overthrew kingdoms, endured suffering, and opened doors for generations they would never see. You are the evidence of their legacy.
Hebrews 11:33–40Faith is acting on a promise before the results show up.
— Dr. Richard Price • Schrader Lane Church of Christ
Walk in a Faith That Carries You Forward
Name Your Foundation
Ask honestly: if every external support were removed, would your faith in Christ still hold you up? Examine the foundation before the storm tests it.
Bring God Your Best, Not Your Remainder
Give your first and finest — in worship, in your offering, in how you show up for your family and your church. God is not honored by what is left over.
Take the Step Without the Full Map
Where is God asking you to move by faith right now? Abraham moved without knowing the destination. God will show you the way as you go.
Invest in a Legacy You May Not Personally Receive
Plant trees under whose shade others will sit. Sacrifice for the next generation of believers — because the promise is bigger than your lifetime.
Faith That Carries You Forward: What It Really Means to Stand on the Solid Rock
Barry's Bureau | Inspired by Dr. Richard Price's sermon at Schrader Lane Church of Christ
In this powerful message from Hebrews 11, Dr. Richard Price challenges us to examine what we are truly standing on — and reveals that faith is not a feeling but a foundation strong enough to carry us through every season of life. Discover what it means to act on God's promises before the results ever show up.
When the Ground Beneath You Starts to Shake
People come to Dr. Price throughout the week with the same confession: "Life broke me. My job bent me. My relationship is stretching me." And when they arrive at his door, the question he quietly holds for every single one of them is this — What are you standing on?
Not your credentials. Not your connections. Not your bank account or your reputation. When every earthly foundation begins to crack — and eventually, they all do — what is underneath you? What is the solid thing that will not move when everything else does?
In his May 3rd message at Schrader Lane Church of Christ, Dr. Richard Price opened Hebrews 11 and answered that question with pastoral clarity and quiet conviction. The title of the message, drawn straight from the text: Faith That Carries You Forward.
Two Words That Hold the Whole Chapter
Dr. Price chose to read from the New Living Translation — and the reason matters. He wanted two specific words to emerge from the passage that capture the heart of the entire eleventh chapter of Hebrews.
"Faith shows the reality of what we hope for. It is the evidence of things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation." (***Hebrews 11:1-2***, NLT)
Substance. Evidence. These are not decorative theological terms. They are load-bearing pillars for everything the Christian life is built upon. And Dr. Price was determined that no one would leave that Sunday without knowing what they mean — and more importantly, without knowing how urgently they need them.
Faith Is Substance Before It Is Ever Sight
The Greek word behind "substance" in this passage carries a striking image: that which I stand under — the inner structure, the foundation beneath a building. You may never see the foundation once the walls go up, but remove it, and everything collapses. It is not visible. But it is absolutely essential.
Dr. Price pressed the congregation: "If you say you have faith, you ought to be able to tell people that you are standing on Christ, the solid rock. Standing on truth — what He died for. Standing on the church that He developed."
Are you standing on a business? On a relationship? On who you know and what you have accomplished? Those things will set you up and pull you down. They will promote you, and they will demote you. People will lift you, and they will crash you. But not God. As Dr. Price declared with the confidence of a man who has watched God rescue him from places no credential could reach: "I know what I am standing on."
The second word — evidence — is the inner conviction. Dr. Price described it as the certainty that grows so strong in a maturing believer that even when life has been brutally hard during the week, they stop broadcasting it to everyone around them, because they have learned it is simply a test sent to make them strong. That is not stoicism. That is disciplined trust that produces obedience — and that is the faith Hebrews 11 is calling us to imitate.
Faith Moves Without a Map
Dr. Price moved through the great gallery of Hebrews 11 — those portrait-hall figures of men and women whose faith outlasted their lifetimes. Every portrait carries the same caption: by faith.
Abel (***Hebrews 11:4***) brought the right offering not because all the worship rules had been established, but because faith governed his sacrifice. Dr. Price's application was immediate: "That is why I bring God my very best. I bring Him a clean mind. I bring Him a willingness to worship. I bring it to Him because I know who holds me up."
Abraham (***Hebrews 11:8***) left land, security, and identity — and he did it without a map. God said go, and he went. He did not know a soul in the land He was headed toward. He had no GPS, no five-year plan, no safety net. He had faith. And from that obedience, a nation was born.
Sarah (***Hebrews 11:11***) received a promise that biology flatly refused to honor. Too old. Too barren. But Dr. Price declared with joy: "My God moves beyond science and biological limitations." She shows us that faith does not require the absence of obstacles. It requires a conviction in the God who makes the promise — and keeps it.
The operating definition Dr. Price offered is worth writing on every wall you face: "Faith is acting on a promise before the results show up."
"Faith is acting on a promise before the results show up." — Dr. Richard Price, Schrader Lane Church of Christ
Faith Relocates Your Identity — and Redefines Your Success
***Hebrews 11:13-16*** introduces a tension that the comfortable prosperity gospel cannot hold. The ancestors of faith died without receiving everything they were promised. They saw it from a distance. They welcomed it from afar. But they never abandoned the belief. Why? Because they were not anchored to earthly fulfillment. They were looking for a better place — a heavenly homeland. Their hope was anchored in divine preparation, not earthly payoff.
Dr. Price called this the moment when faith relocates your identity. When you stop measuring your life by what the neighbors have. When you stop needing the next thing simply because someone else got one. When you can honestly say: "If God gives it, fine. And if He doesn't, that is fine too — because my hope is in Him alone."
He shared the story of Brother Trice, who forfeited his own college opportunity to protect his family from financial burden — then worked as hard as he could so his own children could attend. That is faith that invests in a generation you may not see. That is faithfulness that opens a door you will never walk through yourself. And that, Dr. Price reminded us, is precisely what the ancestors of Hebrews 11 did: "They gave God everything they had internally and externally because they knew He was worthy."
And then came the closing word of the chapter, landing like a promise: "All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith. Yet none of them received all that God had promised — for God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us." (***Hebrews 11:39-40***, NLT)
Their faith was commended. But their story was not finished. You are the evidence that the promise kept moving forward.
4 Ways to Walk in a Faith That Carries You Forward
- Name what you are actually standing on. Take an honest inventory. If every external support were removed tomorrow — the job, the relationships, the reputation — would your faith in Christ still hold you up? Examine the foundation before the storm tests it.
- Bring God your best, not your remainder. Abel's example calls us to give our first and finest in worship, in our offering, in how we show up for our families and our church community. God is not honored by what is left over after everything else has been served.
- Take the step without the full map. Where is God asking you to move by faith right now? A restored relationship? A new calling? A commitment you have been postponing? Abraham moved without knowing the destination. God will show you the way as you go.
- Invest in a legacy you may not personally receive. Faith that carries forward plants trees under whose shade others will sit. Sacrifice for the next generation of believers, the next generation of your family, the next season of your church — because the promise is bigger than your lifetime.
🎧 Watch the Full Sermon | Explore the Study Tools
Watch Dr. Richard Price deliver this message in full at Schrader Lane Church of Christ on YouTube. Then strengthen your understanding with the interactive quiz and study game — both available here at BarrysBureau.org.
What Are You Standing On?
Dr. Price closed his message at the invitation with a question that reached far beyond the song: "If you are standing on faith — what is faith?" Not a feeling. Not church attendance. Not a family tradition. Faith is the substance — the foundation — of everything your life in Christ is built upon.
Here is the challenge this week: Where is God asking you to act on His promise before the results show up? Name it. Pray over it. Take one step. And remember — you are not standing alone. You are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses who went before you, faithful to the end, whose story was not finished without yours.
Share this post with someone who needs to be reminded what they are standing on. Leave a comment below and tell us — where is your faith calling you forward right now? And come back to Barry's Bureau for more resources to move you from spiritual milk to meat.
Join us for worship at Schrader Lane Church of Christ or visit BarrysBureau.org for more resources.
Complete each key quote or scripture phrase from Dr. Price’s message by clicking the correct word from the word bank. There are 8 rounds. How many can you get right?
💡 Tip: Read the full sentence carefully — the missing word is always the key truth!
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