To walk by faith and not by sight is to live as a son or daughter of the living God, not as someone just trying to make it into heaven. In this message, Pastor Paul Hohman returns to Hebrews 11 and shows that faith pleases God, that Jesus always recognizes faith, and that real faith shows itself in love and good deeds. He draws on Noah, Zacchaeus, the woman with the issue of blood, blind Bartimaeus and Abraham to show what pressing in looks like.
Below you will find the full video, a structured summary of the sermon, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps of faith you can take this week.
Sermon at a Glance
This message was posted by NTC Ministries in November 2021. Pastor Paul Hohman explains that he preached on walking by faith a few weeks earlier and wants to revisit it, this time applying it to how believers live as true children of God rather than as the black sheep of the family who never quite fits in.
His main point is that Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. Saying “I’m a Christian” and then living like the world is not enough. Faith pleases God, pursues Him, grows from step to step, and becomes visible in how we love people. He closes with communion and a call to recommit to walking by faith.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Pastor Paul Hohman |
| Series | I Walk by Faith and Not by Sight, part 1 of 2 |
| Main text | Hebrews 11:1–6 and James 2:14–24 |
| Key theme | Faith that seeks God diligently and is shown by love and good deeds |
| Length | About 56 minutes, ending with communion |
What It Means to Walk by Faith and Not by Sight
Pastor Paul begins with Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith runs through the whole Bible. He pictures Noah, told by God to build an ark when it had never rained, working on it for more than a hundred years while his neighbors laughed at him. Some things God asks us to do we will not feel like doing, he says, but we do them by faith.
The disciples were not perfect either. Peter denied Jesus three times. Judas sold Him and ended his life in a field. Pastor Paul says we can let our mistakes eat away at us, or we can choose by faith to keep living for Jesus and keep returning to His Word, which says how much He loves us regardless of our imperfections.
That does not mean grace is a free pass to live any way we want. “That’s not true at all,” he says. To walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) is not always easy, and that is exactly why it matters.
Hebrews 11:6 explains why: “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” How do you know you are walking in faith? Pastor Paul asks whether you are doing something beyond your own capability. He describes the butterflies, dry mouth and blank mind of speaking in front of people for the first time, until you get past yourself and God starts to flow.
When you press in by faith, God rewards you. He does exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20), with strength, confidence, courage, joy, knowledge and wisdom for building His kingdom.
Quoting his father, Dr. Hohman, the senior pastor, he says the key is to know that God is. Not a God who only wrote a book, but the One who made the sun, moon and stars and the intricate workings of the human body. In Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). He has the church say it together: I need to seek Him.
Jesus Recognizes Faith
When people seek Jesus, Pastor Paul says, Jesus recognizes faith. He revisits three stories from his earlier message. Each person had a reason to stay back, and each pressed in anyway. The table below follows his telling.
| Person | What stood in the way | How they pressed in | How Jesus responded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zacchaeus | Short in stature, a tax collector, hidden by the crowd | Ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree just to see Jesus | Looked up, called him by name and went to his house |
| The woman with the issue of blood | Years of suffering and a crowd telling her to get out | Pushed through to touch the hem of His garment | Felt power go out of Him and asked who touched Him |
| Blind Bartimaeus | Blind, begging, and told to keep quiet | Cried out all the more to Jesus | Stopped, healed him, and Bartimaeus praised God |
Zacchaeus, in Luke 19:1–10, was a tax collector, and Pastor Paul says tax collectors were known for lying and cheating. Yet something drew him to Jesus. Out of hundreds or thousands of people, Jesus was drawn to his faith. Just being in His presence, Pastor Paul says, changes our life.
The woman in Matthew 9:20–22 did not need a big scene, forty-five minutes of worship or a sermon. She only knew she needed to touch Him. The disciples laughed that everyone was touching Him, but Jesus felt healing power go out. We do not have to come expecting a spectacle, Pastor Paul says; we receive as we press in.
Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46–52) knew he could not push through a crowd, so he called out. When people told him to be quiet, it stirred him even more. Jesus recognized his faith, and the man everyone knew as a beggar jumped up praising God.
Seek Him, Don’t Beg Him
Some Christians say they just want to make it through the pearly gates. Pastor Paul says that should not be our goal. If we call ourselves Christians, we are sons and daughters of the Most High, and we do not have to beg. We press into who He is. Read the Gospels, he urges, and see that Jesus healed all who were sick and oppressed.
He grew up in church, at the doors every time they opened while his father ushered, ran children’s ministry or preached. He knew how to talk and act like a Christian. But God does not want the act; He wants us to pursue Him. He rewards those who diligently seek Him, not those who diligently seek to please people. Pastor Paul admits he ran from God’s call for years after watching what his father went through.
When you know who God is, he says, you stop begging for strength and start thanking Him that you will run and not grow weary (Isaiah 40:31). You declare that Jesus was wounded for your transgressions and by His stripes you are healed (Isaiah 53:5). He recalls recent meetings where a minister did not beg but declared who God is, and the church saw legs grow.
“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). Pastor Paul highlights the word with. If things are possible with God, we need to spend time with Him. He greets the Father, the Holy Spirit and King Jesus each morning, then reads and prays, because it is a relationship.
God will supply all our needs (Philippians 4:19), but that does not mean we stop working; Jesus was a carpenter. As children, we should know our Father’s voice. He remembers growing up in a trailer park where every kid knew his own parent’s call. If you have never heard God’s voice, he says, open the Bible: it is God’s Word and His voice.
The more you know His voice, the more you threaten the devil, who comes to steal, kill and destroy, while Jesus came to give abundant life (John 10:10). It takes faith to see ourselves the way God does instead of wondering who we are to pray for the sick. Jesus said believers will lay hands on the sick and they will recover (Mark 16:18). “I’m not healing people, He is,” Pastor Paul says, but He told us to go.
Hungry for More of God
God wants us to be real with Him, Pastor Paul says. We do not need King James English to pray. We can tell Him, “God, I’m having some trouble today.” Jesus Himself felt deep sorrow in Gethsemane, asked His disciples to watch with Him one hour, and was in such agony that His sweat became like great drops of blood (Luke 22:44). Following Christ is a step of faith, and when we make mistakes we get back up and fix our eyes on the cross.
He shares Dr. Hohman’s teaching that the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world are opposites. In this world, hunger fades once you eat; you see a sign for a burger, eat it, and the craving is gone. In the kingdom of God, the more you press in and seek His face, the hungrier you become. It is not one great experience and then back to the old life.
God takes us from faith to faith and strength to strength. Something that was once a step of faith, like standing up to preach, becomes confidence as the Holy Spirit flows. Getting up earlier to pray may be hard, and you may not understand everything you read, but God will give you what you need when you need it.
Pastor Paul’s own first step came at a youth camp when he was 16. He went for the wrong reasons, but the morning teaching on the call to ministry turned on light bulbs, and he surrendered. An evening speaker used pogs, small round discs, calling them “the place of God,” to show that we each need to find His presence. When we are truly in His presence, Pastor Paul says, we leave different.
Faith That Shows Itself in Love
Pastor Paul then reads James 2:14–24 in the New Living Translation. What good is it to say you have faith if you do not show it by your actions? Praying a prayer and then living exactly as before is not being changed. We are not to be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2).
We are adopted as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1). Because He loves us so much, we show that same love by faith.
James asks what good it does to wish a hungry person well without giving food. Christians should be the most generous people on the planet, Pastor Paul says. The first ministry of the New Testament Church was the His Hands Extended food pantry, which he says now serves over a thousand people a month. Faith and good deeds are not two separate gifts; faith without works is dead.
Abraham’s faith and actions worked together when he offered Isaac. Pastor Paul imagines telling his son he was the sacrifice, and then God stopping him and providing a ram, revealing Himself as the God who provides (Genesis 22:9–14). God may ask hard things of us, and like Jesus we say, “Not my will, but Yours.”
The psalmist declared, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD” (Psalm 118:14–17). Our own righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), and pride comes before a fall. The more we know God, the more we trust His strength and His anointing that breaks yokes and pulls down religious barriers. We are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34–35). Not because we say so, but because we demonstrate it. God so loved the world (John 3:16), not just one church or one religion. Love fulfills the law (Romans 13:8–10).
Love Your Enemies: A Step of Faith
If God is love, Pastor Paul says, we need to be where God is. Time in His presence brings change that others notice before we do. In His presence is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11), and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). When fearful thoughts come, he asks whether God would think that thought, then casts his care on the One who cares for him (1 Peter 5:7).
He hides God’s Word in his heart, because it is a lamp to his feet and a light to his path (Psalm 119:105), and Christ in us is the hope of glory, so His presence goes everywhere we go.
Then comes the hardest step. In Matthew 5:43–45, Jesus says to love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. Pastor Paul admits he sometimes wishes Jesus had only said to love your family or your co-workers.
Loving enemies is not easy, which is why it is a step of faith that pleases God. People who once brought out the worst in you lose that power. “By my God I can leap over a wall,” he says (Psalm 18:29).
As a boy, he struggled with a proud classmate and kept praying for God to change him. His mother asked whether he had ever prayed for himself. So he asked God to help him see through His eyes. The irritation left, and he began to enjoy the boy’s company. Pastor Paul still remembers it vividly. What seems impossible, he says, God wants to turn around for your good.
Taking Steps of Faith This Week
Pastor Paul closes with communion from 1 Corinthians 11:23–26, inviting anyone who has received Jesus, in the room or online, to take part. He leads a prayer recommitting to walk by faith and not by sight, thanking God for His unfailing love despite our failures.
- Start the day with Him. Greet the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus each morning, then read and pray as a conversation, not a ritual.
- Read the Gospels. Learn your Father’s voice by reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and asking God to open your eyes.
- Declare, don’t beg. Thank God for who He is, your strength, healer and provider, rather than pleading as if He were unwilling.
- Show your faith. Meet a practical need this week, because faith without good deeds is dead.
- Pray for the difficult person. Ask God to help you see them through His eyes.
- Give thanks through the day. On the drive to work, at lunch or before bed, thank Him for what He has done.
Timestamped Outline
- 0:00 A relationship, not a religion
- 1:29 Hebrews 11:1 and Noah’s ark
- 3:00 Imperfect disciples
- 4:05 Without faith it is impossible to please God
- 5:41 Believe that God is
- 7:42 Zacchaeus climbs the tree
- 9:38 The woman with the issue of blood
- 10:43 Blind Bartimaeus cries out
- 12:53 More than making it to heaven
- 16:41 With God all things are possible
- 18:49 Knowing your Father’s voice
- 22:38 Being real with God
- 24:33 Hungry for the kingdom
- 27:16 A step of faith at youth camp
- 29:04 James 2: faith shown by actions
- 30:49 Generosity and the food pantry
- 33:53 Abraham offers Isaac
- 36:17 Live and declare the works of the Lord
- 38:22 Love one another: John 13
- 41:36 Change in His presence
- 44:48 Love your enemies: Matthew 5
- 47:10 Learning to love a difficult classmate
- 50:36 Communion
- 52:35 Prayer of recommitment and blessing
I Walk by Faith Series
This is the first of two messages on walking by faith. Continue with the next teaching:
- You are here: I Walk by Faith and Not by Sight: Living as Sons and Daughters of God
- Next: I Walk by Faith and Not by Sight, Part 2 — No More Bench Warmers
Frequently Asked Questions
Does grace mean it no longer matters how I live?
No. Pastor Paul says plainly that grace does not give anyone a free pass to live any way they want. God loves us regardless of our mistakes, and when we fall we get back up and fix our eyes on the cross. But someone who prays a prayer and keeps living exactly as before has not been changed. Faith shows up in actions.
What if I don’t feel like I have that kind of faith?
Pastor Paul’s answer is to build it. Faith grows from faith to faith as you spend time with God, read His Word and take small steps beyond your comfort. Things that once took great faith, like speaking in front of people, become natural as the Holy Spirit flows. He encourages starting simply: get up, welcome God into your day and talk with Him.
Can I pray honestly about how I feel?
Yes. Pastor Paul says God wants us to be real with Him and that we do not need formal, old-fashioned language. You can tell Him you are having a hard day and ask for help. He points out that Jesus Himself expressed deep sorrow in the garden of Gethsemane. Being honest with God is part of the relationship, and it opens the way for Him to replace fear and worry with His love.
Scripture References
All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:
- Hebrews 11:1 and Hebrews 11:6 — faith that pleases God
- 2 Corinthians 5:7 — we walk by faith, not by sight
- Luke 19:1–10 — Zacchaeus
- Matthew 9:20–22 — the woman who touched His garment
- Mark 10:46–52 — blind Bartimaeus
- Matthew 19:26 — with God all things are possible
- James 2:14–24 — faith shown by works
- John 13:34–35 — love one another
- Matthew 5:43–45 — love your enemies
How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.
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