Living Between the Right Now and the Not Yet" w/Freeman Tomlin

Hebrews 11:32–40 frames faith as the lived posture between the right now and the not yet. Old Testament figures trusted God’s promises while facing real weakness, moral failure, and violent opposition; their faith looked forward to a promised Redeemer even as new covenant believers look back to Christ’s finished work. Faith shows up as hearing before doing—receiving God’s word, refusing to act on impulse, and then turning revelation into obedient action. The text insists that Jesus is better: not bigger, but better—God’s perfect character and finished salvation outrank every fleeting human achievement or gadget. Real faith proves itself both on mountaintops and in valleys; the same conviction that moves people to celebrate at victories also sustains them through suffering, torture, and death. Examples like Gideon, Samson, David, and others demonstrate that God uses imperfect, reluctant, and wounded people when those people surrender their strength and weaknesses to him. Surrender functions as the exchange where human frailty meets divine enablement—weakness becomes the platform for God’s strength. The writer warns against turning faith into a formula that guarantees health or success; instead, faith often manifests through endurance, humility, and perseverance amid trials. The passage closes with an eschatological horizon: the faithful of old did not receive their final promises apart from Christ; God has provided something better that completes the whole story, and believers belong to a single, communal economy that spans both covenants. Practical convictions emerge: learn God’s voice through scripture, refuse to hoard pain or pretend perfection, hand over wounds instead of clutching them, and live every day with the end in view so present choices align with eternal hope.

---

Key Takeaways

• 1. Faith comes by hearing Faith forms when the word of God captures attention and reshapes expectation. Hearing should precede action so obedience grows out of revelation rather than impulse or religious busyness. Cultivating silence, scripture study, and discernment sharpens recognition of God’s voice in noisy seasons. [11:28]
• 2. Better, not bigger: Jesus reigns Human craving chases bigger things, but the text reframes success around what is better—Christ’s perfected work and character. Better resists the law of diminishing returns and centers worship on enduring holiness rather than transient gain. Worship that prizes Jesus recalibrates ambition, so every achievement serves God’s glory rather than self-exaltation. [02:31]
• 3. Surrender trades weakness for strength True surrender refuses self-reliance and offers personal impotence to God, creating room for divine power to operate. That exchange makes the weakest instruments witnesses to God’s might, as shown when believers acted beyond natural capacity. Growing spiritual maturity aims not at personal harder strength but at deeper dependence that invites God’s sufficiency. [26:33]
• 4. Live with the end in mind Eschatological hope realigns daily choices by rehearsing the future promised completion and community with the faithful across ages. Viewing present trials and triumphs through that horizon reduces panic, refines priorities, and fuels resilience in suffering. Decide daily as if the final chapter already matters and let that certainty shape how life is spent. [41:38]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:44] - Worship as a Lifestyle
• [01:45] - Living Between Right Now and Not Yet
• [02:31] - Jesus Is Better: Better, Not Bigger
• [11:08] - Faith Comes by Hearing
• [14:50] - Gideon: Trust and Surrender
• [26:33] - Weakness Exchanged for Strength
• [27:40] - Faith in the Valley of Suffering
• [41:38] - Living with the End in Mind
• [44:05] - Closing Illustration: Astroworld

Bible reading
Hebrews 11:32–40 (ESV)
And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

---

Observation questions

1. What specific actions did the people listed in Hebrews 11 accomplish “through faith”?
2. What kinds of suffering did some of these faithful people endure, according to verses 35–38?
3. The passage says these faithful ones “were made strong out of weakness” [26:33]. What does that phrase mean in the context of their stories?
4. According to verse 40, why did these Old Testament believers not receive the final fulfillment of God’s promise during their lifetimes?

---

Interpretation questions

1. The writer highlights both great victories and intense suffering as results of faith. How can both of these be true expressions of the same faith?
2. What does it mean that God has provided something “better” for us (v. 40), and how does Jesus fulfill what the Old Testament believers looked forward to?
3. The idea was shared that “bigger is not better; better is better” [02:31]. How does this contrast with the world’s definition of success or power?
4. How does the concept of surrender—exchanging human weakness for divine strength—work out practically in a person’s life of faith?

---

Application questions

1. Faith comes by hearing God’s word before doing [11:28]. What is one practical way you can create more space in your daily routine to listen for God’s voice before acting?
2. Where in your life are you currently trying to be “bigger” or stronger in your own power, instead of surrendering your weakness to God and trusting that His “better” is enough?
3. The same faith that works on the mountaintop also sustains in the valley [27:40]. How can you actively choose to trust God’s character—not your circumstances—in a difficult situation you’re facing right now?
4. What is one past hurt or wound you’ve been holding onto [19:14] that God is asking you to hand over to Him in exchange for His strength?
5. Living with the end in mind [41:38] changes how we live today. What is one decision you can make this week that reflects your eternal hope rather than just temporary comfort?
6. How does understanding that you are part of a faith community that spans all time (v. 40) encourage you when you feel alone or weak in your walk with God?