Keion Henderson - I was framed

Hebrews 11:1 says, «Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.» Notice that when we quote it, we say, «Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.» Notice there is no period, only a comma. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So «and» would mean a conjunction, which implies that everything on one side of a conjunction is joined to the thing on the other side. A comma is nothing more than a pause, signifying that this is a continuous thought: faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, the elders obtained a good report. Through faith, we understand that the worlds were-here is the word I want you to think about all day long: " framed.» If you don’t understand framing, you won’t understand faith. Do you understand what I’m telling you? By it, the elders obtained a good report, and the worlds were framed by the Word of God. So the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. That 's quite a lot; I’m going to do my best to explain it. But I want you to go to verse 3, where it says, «Through faith we understand that the worlds were.» I want you to look at your neighbor and say, «Neighbor, I don’t know what they told you, but I was framed.» You may be seated in the name of Jesus. Such an episode was framed. I was framed; I was framed. I didn’t do it; I was framed. According to a study known as the Innocence Project, about two and a half percent to five percent of people who are currently incarcerated are imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. This suggests that there are over 110,000 people in prison right now for things they did not do. If you ask people in certain neighborhoods, especially in the hood, most of them are in prison due to plea bargains. In other words, they had to plead guilty to a lesser crime as a way of making recompense for the actual crime being investigated. But there are many people in prison right now who are innocent, and not only are there people in the prison system who are innocent, but there are also people in your personal prisons who are being held captive for crimes they did not commit. There are people in your life right now who are paying a jail sentence for the person you knew before you met them. But it’s just natural that somebody has to pay, and if it’s not the one you were with, it’s going to be the one you are with because every debt must be paid. Chapter 11 of Hebrews gives us a picture of that analogy; there are not just people who have been framed for crimes they did not commit. Those are not the only types of frames. A frame is also something that can be used to display something valuable in our house. There are certain pictures that you have in your house right now; they may be in a book, an envelope, or underneath something. But there are certain pictures that mean so much to you. You can always tell when a picture means more than the others. They’ll say things like, «I’ve got to get that one framed.» How many of you have a picture framed in your house right now? Frames signify value; are you with me? I remember not too long ago my wife said, «Baby, let’s go get a portrait of the family .» Now, I grew up in the hood; I didn’t know anything about portraits. So when you don’t know how much something costs, you often guess. But that guess depends on your money. So she said, «Let 's go get this picture.» I said, «That’s fine.» She said she wanted one of a certain size. I said, «Get whatever you want.» I went in there and saw the big one, and they said, «Now, this is the big one, and these are the frame options .» She said, «Now, in order to get it framed, it would cost about $3,000.» I knew we were in the wrong conversation when she told me how much the frame was going to cost. I sat there and listened, but my wife is finding out for the first time right now that I checked out about ten minutes into the conversation. She said, «Now, the frame is $3,000, and if you want one this size, we have financing options.» Again, I knew we were not on the same page because if we had to discuss financing, I knew we were not having the same conversation. She said, «Yes, the big one is $ 40,000, and this one is this and that, but we use the finest oils.» I said, «Ma 'am, we are only here because we purchased something, and as a gift of the purchase, we received a gift card.» Now, I was under the assumption that the gift card plus a couple of dollars of my own would cover the whole deal, but it wasn’t even a fraction. The gift card was $2,000. I couldn’t even afford the frame with the gift card. Are y’all going to follow me here? The frame was more expensive than my card because if you get the right frame, it always costs you more than you have. Are y’all with me today? Now, I’m trying to frame this.