June 7, 2020
Morning Service

1Co 13:13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is

love.

            We are doing a series of messages on these three foundational elements of being a true Jesus Follower.  We looked at God’s unchanging love, the revelation that He is love, and then Paul defined what love looks like for us in I Cor. 13.  Today will be our fourth and final message on faith.  We have seen faith defined, the importance of faith explained, and now we have had two messages of faith on display looking at the lives of Noah and Abraham.  Here are the key scriptures I want you to remember from those messages.

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Heb 11:6But 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.

Rom 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS."

Faith is believing God and acting upon it even when we don’t understand what God is doing because we fully trust Him to do what is best for us and His kingdom.  Without it is impossible to please God!  I must believe that He is and that He cares about me.  Romans tells us that it was Abraham’s faith that justified him before God, not his works (the why not the what).  Today I want to look at what Jesus said about faith and also what the scriptures say about growing our faith.  The first one is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus directs us not worry about things in our lives, but to trust God to take care of us.  Worry can change nothing and He then gives us the examples of God feeding the birds and clothing the flowers of the field so beautifully.

 

Mat 6:30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

            Jesus explains to us that when we spend our time worrying about money, food, clothes or the future we are displaying our lack of faith. Worry and concern are two different things.  Worry immobilizes us and concern moves us to action.  Do what you can about the situation, control what you can, and then turn the rest over to the Lord to take care of and let it go.  Let go and let God.  Trust Him in times of need where you feel helpless; He is there for you and able to move any mountain that is in your way.  That is a very practical way to put our faith on display to those around.  Don’t worry, pray, trust and enjoy the peace that passes all understanding. Our next example is one in which Jesus applauds the great faith of a Roman soldier.

Mat 8:5-10 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, (6) saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented."  (7)  And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."  (8)  The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.  (9)  For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."  (10)  When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!

            This Roman officer knew the power of words spoken in authority.  He led a group of 100 soldiers and when he spoke, it was done.  He had faith in Jesus believing He had the authority to simply speak the word and the sickness would leave his servant.  Though he was a man of authority, he humbled himself coming to Jesus and asking for His help.  Great faith is displayed when we humbly admit that we need help.  There are many times in life that God puts us in certain circumstances so we will call upon Him; He wants us to rely on Him.  We all need to recognize that it is God that is in control not us; we are the clay and He is the One molding us.  The centurion, like Abraham, believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.  God rewarded him for diligently seeking Him by healing his servant at that moment (verse 13).  God said it, we believe it and that settles it; faith on display.

            Our final example is one in which Jesus tells us that it is not the quantity of our faith that matters, but the quality.  He has just finished revealing to His disciples that forgiveness has no boundaries.  When someone comes to you truly asking forgiveness, we must forgive them which can be a very difficult thing sometimes.  This caused the disciples to ask this of the Lord.

 

Luke 17:5-6 And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."  (6)  So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

            My first reaction to this scripture has always been that my faith is many times smaller than a mustard seed because I haven’t moved a mulberry tree.  That however, is not the point Jesus is making here.  The disciples realized to forgive at that level was going to take great faith so their request was genuine; “increase our faith.”  Jesus does not directly answer their request because it is not the amount of faith that matters, but the genuineness of it that is important.  Faith again is believing God at His Word and acting upon it.  It is not something we use to put on a show for others (uprooting a mulberry tree) but it is complete and humble obedience to God’s will.  The amount of our faith is not as important as the right kind of faith.; faith in the all-powerful Lord.  Doubt yourself, but never doubt God; “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  It is not the size of our faith that matters, but the object of our faith that moves the mulberry tree.  We follow Jesus fully trusting that He will lead us down the path that we need to go and He will walk right beside us all the way.  These basic questions though still remain; how do I acquire the basic faith that I need to please God and how do I grow that faith into all that it can be?  The simple answer comes from Romans chapter 10.

 

 Rom 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

            Faith is born and grows by our studying of God’s Word.  To acquire faith, and to build it strong study your Bible.  Diligently seek Him and you will find Him. Study with the purpose to know who God is and to understand the relationship He desires to have with you.  The manner God has chosen to speak to us, to build our relationship with Him is through His Word.  Listen to what he Hebrew writer says:

 

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

            The Words in your Bible are alive and speak to you as if it can see deep into your heart where no one is able; because it can it “is a discerner of the thought and intents of the heart.”  God reveals Himself to us through His Word and He also reveals who we are as well.  This is not just a book that we need to study and memorize it is much, much more.  It is the Holy Spirt that works with the Words of God to build our faith by building our relationship with our Lord.  As you read it is as if God is speaking directly into your soul.  He knows us better than we know ourselves and He tells us the words we need to hear as we read.   Hearing is not enough, we must come to Him with an open mind and heart and be willing to accept that it is the truth that we are hearing and accept it by faith.  Once we come to that point of accepting God’s Word as the truth, our faith is born and we believe that He is and that He cares about each of us.  That then will build within us a hunger to know Him more intimately causing us to study and pray more making our relationship with Jesus the primary relationship in our lives.  To grow our faith, we need to build that relationship with Jesus.  Reading God’s Word is like having a conversation with Him; He speaks to you.  Prayer is how we speak back to Him.  Every relationship is built strong through communication.  We learn about each other and are drawn much closer as we know and understand each other better.   I believe it is our faith in God that causes us to love Him.  The more I read and understand the scriptures, my love for God reaches new levels.  I love Him because I realize how much He loves me.  Our faith fuels our love and our lives are changed forever.  We follow Jesus because we believe He is Who He says He is and we love Him for loving us.  I leave you with this final scripture.

 

2Co 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

 

Heavenly Father, open the eyes of our hearts, so that we may build our faith by knowing You more intimately.