Welcome to the Daily Devotionals for the sermon series “Champs & Misfits.” If you would like to download a copy of Part 1, click here. If you are looking for Part 2, click here. There are also hard copies at the Welcome Desk.

The book of Hebrews is an encouragement and an exhortation to a group of Christians who were enduring intense persecution. After establishing the superiority of Jesus over the old systems of religion that existed, the author turns to point out the importance of faith in Jesus.

Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The importance of faith is demonstrated through a biblical hall-of-fame of the faithful. Following this list of well-known biblical names, the letter takes a stark turn in verse 13: “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on earth.”

The life these strangers and exiles lived were radically different from the world around them, because of the faith they had in things to come. In this way, each of them were something of a misfit. However, we know that the hope in things to come is where we have our security. It’s when we persevere in this hope that we can be called “champions” as well as “misfits.”

Our congregation is blessed with countless champions and misfits, and in the next few weeks we’ll be reading through devotionals inspired by the video interviews shared on Sunday mornings. Each of our lives have the potential to beautifully strange, wild, and countercultural examples of a life lived in faith.

My hope for you in this series is that you can see how your life can be an encouragement and an exhortation to those around you. You are both a misfit and a champion.

The devotionals are meant to accompany a videos we will be playing throughout the series. Here are the testimonies we have played so far: