The Impossibility of Faith
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INTRO: I want to thank each of y'all for making us feel welcome here at Good News. We were absolutely blown away by the kindness we were shown back in April, and that kindness has not stopped! Being able to communicate with the church via our Slack app has been a blessing to us. When we arrived at Bro. Dusty's house, where we are currently staying as we wait to close on the house we are purchasing, we were met with a couple of baskets full of snacks, socks (which our kids LOVED), and other supplies. The thoughtfulness we have been met with is absolutely amazing and I want to make sure you know that we appreciate all that you have done for us!
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As we step into this chapter that will be new for each of us, I know that Tahsha and I are looking forward to what God will be doing at and through Good News Baptist Church, and I hope that you are looking forward to it as well.
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I would like to talk about the issue of faith today. If I were to ask the question, "What is faith," no doubt I would get some varied answers out of you. Some might respond with words straight out of the Bible from Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Others may describe faith in the following ways: Faith is...
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I will be partial to the description in Hebrews 11
The substance of things hoped for - I love this oxymoron, this phrase that is contradictory. How can you have the substance of something that is only hoped for?
The evidence of things not seen - WHAT!? If you can't see it or experience it, how can there be evidence of it?
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Do me a favor for a second. I want you to really think about what these phrases mean. Let's just do the first one, no need for our brain to get multiple cramps while doing this...π
The substance of things hoped for... Think about it for a minute.
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Do you see the impossibility of this? If you hope for something, it means it is not real, but once there is is substance, it is real and no longer a hope.
Hope is abstract. It really can't be measured, touched, or weighed. Substances can be seen, felt in the physical sense, and quantified.
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Some people have tried to explain hope or faith as air. You can't see it, but you can feel it as you breathe it in or as it moves around you. Well, the reason you can feel it even when you can't see it is because it is a substance! We feel it physically, not emotionally. We can isolate the individual molecules that make up the air that we breathe. It is a substance, so that is a bad analogy.
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So what is faith, and why is the Biblical definition of faith so impossible? Not impossible to understand, but impossible to exist? Let's talk about the impossibility of faith and why we view it as such.
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Anybody here ever been lied to? Anybody here ever lied to anybody else?
Any parents ever lied to your kids? "Sure, Johnny, when we get home you can absolutely have ice cream." NOT!
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How do we describe a person that consistently lies or breaks his word? We say that their words have no weight, no substance. You can't count on the person, and you can't count on what they say. You can't even hope that what they say is true. When someone that doesn't know that person says, "Yeah, I'm having car trouble, but Ricky said that he'd come over to the house tomorrow and help me fix it."
We respond with something like, "Oh, I wouldn't [what?] count on it. Ricky doesn't always do what he says he's going to do."
I wouldn't count on it. Why? Because there is nothing to count on, no substance!
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But even when people and things are reliable, we have phrases like:
- Don't count your chickens before they hatch.
What does that mean, don't count your chickens before they hatch? Don't trust that all those eggs are going to result in good, healthy chicks.
What does it mean? Donβt place too much hope on something that youβre not 100% sure will actually happen.
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There are overly optimistic people and there are overly pessimistic people, then, right there in the middle, there are people who like to refer to themselves as "realists."
They claim to have a balanced approach to life. They are the ones that tell the optimistic new homeowner that thinks that they will be able to paint, replace flooring, and purchase new furniture as soon as they close on the house that they need to temper their optimism. "Don't be so hopeful, you might need to do repairs before you can buy all that stuff. Surely you haven't thought of every expense that may come, and so you won't be horribly disappointed when the time comes, you may want to keep your hopes low, just in case it doesn't work out."
In other words, don't count your chickens before they hatch.
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So, even in good situations, we are warned to temper our hope, because it may not play out the way we expect it.
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But what does the Bible have to say about faith? We have read the description in Hebrews, we still don't get it, so where else do we find faith in the Bible?
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I would like us to look at several passages Matthew. We will go from one to another, and after we have read all four of these verses, you get to tell me what they all have in common. Make sure you pay attention!π
Matthew 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? - Jesus talking to a multitude in the sermon on the mount.
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8:26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. - Jesus talking to his disciples after they woke him during a storm on the Sea of Galilee.
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14:31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? - Peter walking on water, taking his eyes off Jesus and starting to sink. Jesus grabs him by the hand and this is what He says.
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16:8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? - Jesus responding to the disciples after they have misunderstood something Jesus had said about the Pharisees.
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What is the common theme in these verses? "Oh ye/thou of little faith."
I grew up believing that these were rebukes. In fact, I often taught that Jesus was rebuking/getting on to his disciples for their amount of faith. But if you take the time to go through these verses, you will see that Jesus is simply stating a fact: Those who He was talking to had little faith.
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There comes a time later in Jesus' ministry that Jesus commands his disciples to forgive people that have offended them multiple times in the same day. I want you to notice the disciples' reaction to this command. Go with me to Luke 17.
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Luke 17:3-5
3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. 4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. 5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
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The disciples' response was this: "What you are asking us to do is not normal. It requires superhuman faith to be able to do that. Supersize our faith!"
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Do you know what Jesus DIDN'T do next? He didn't lecture them on 4 ways to grow your faith; He didn't explain a process that would make their faith stronger. Instead, he corrected their perspective.
Luke 17:6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
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They had little faith, but the size of the faith was never the issue; the object of their faith is what mattered.
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Their little faith could uproot trees and move mountains, not because of the strength of that little faith, but because the strength of the God in whom that faith was placed!
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The size of your faith is irrelevant to the object of your faith.
A mustard seed is incredibly small, and what Jesus is saying here is that we don't need the right size faith, we need the right kind of faith. How big is the object of your faith?
If the object of your faith is your own abilities, your, credit score, your bank account, the economy, the politicians in power, your family, etc. , then the results will be limited and inconsistent at best.
If the object of your faith is God the Father, then the results of that faith will be tremendous and limitless, because we have a tremendous God.
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But I thought we said that Biblical faith was impossible? I did, and it is if we do not have the right kind of faith.
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There is nothing and no one that can make substance out of hope besides God, because He always keeps His word. He is 100% faithful without any variation at all. He is the only one of whom can truly be said that His word is His bond. What He says, He will accomplish. Where he leads you, he will make a way. What He guides you to, He will equip you for. There is substance to His promises even. If you continue to read Hebrews 11, you encounter people who took God at His word, believed His promises without doubt, and stood on the substance that is hope in God.
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I think many times we believe that God can do amazing things, but we often don't believe He will. We have belief, but we don't have faith.
If you came to the Wednesday night Bible studies in April, you should be familiar with the book of James. James unequivocally says that faith without works is merely a DEAD faith. Belief is not faith. Faith is faith.
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I think that the best way to explain the difference is by describing one of the greatest feats performed by The Great Blondin. The Great Blondin was a french circus performer. His specialty was walking the tightrope. His greatest tightrope achievements were performed as he walked a tightrope that was stretched out over a quarter-mile section of Niagara Falls. The first time he did this, the crowd held their breath as Blondin walked to the Canadian side of the falls, and on his return, halfway through through, he jumped and did a flip and continued back to his starting point. When he stepped off the rope, the crowd erupted with cheers.
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Over the span of 10 years, Blondin would complete this challenge 8 times, each time adding a new element of skill and danger. One of the things he was famous for doing was for pushing a small wheelbarrow across the tightrope. One time, after pushing his wheelbarrow back and forth across the falls, he asked the crow if they believed that he could cross the tightrope with a person in the wheelbarrow.
The crowd cheered and affirmed their belief that Blondin was skilled enough to do so, until Blondin asked for a volunteer.
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No one volunteered. You see, the crowd believed Blondin could do it, Bbut they had no faith in him. Blondin did not think anyone would volunteer for it, but to his surprise, after a long silence, Blondin's own agent, Harry Colcord volunteered to cross with him.
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A couple of months later, Blondin did carry his agent across the falls, but not in a wheelbarrow; he did it piggy back style. As they approached the most dangerous part of the walk across, Blondin told his agent, βHarry, you are no longer Colcord; you are Blondin. Until I clear this place be a part of me β mind, body, and soul. If I sway, sway with me. Do not attempt to do any balancing yourself. If you do we shall both go down to our death.β Harry trusted his wiser, more experienced friend, and carefully the Great Blondin continued along until at long last the pair reached the other side, safe and sound.
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We often find ourselves in the position of the crowd, eager to see what God can do; anxiously watching what feats of strength and power and guidance God has, but never letting it personally affect us. We casually believe that He can and could do wonderful things in and through us, but it seems too dangerous for us to actually step out and be totally reliant on Him. It seems impossible. To face those giants, to move those mountains, to uproot those trees, or to cross that tightrope would require, it seems, superhuman faith. But Jesus says, your small faith in a superhuman God produces tremendous results.
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We are fixing to move forward as a church. I believe with all my heart that God has a big plan for Good News Baptist Church! If you are a member here, you are part of that plan. God's mission for the church is to share the Gospel and make disciples all throughout Cedar Rapids and the world. It seems we would need a superhuman faith to be able to do that, and there are many in here that would say, "I only have a little bit of faith." Well, a little bit is all you need if you will place that little bit of faith in our All-powerful God. And God WILL use you. Oh, I think we all believe He can use us, but do you have faith that He WILL use you?
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Are you willing to step out in faith and let Him carry you completely? Are you willing to align yourself with Him as he walks you across the tightrope of His plan? Are you willing to believe that He commissioned this church and therefore you as a member with a commission that IS possible through Him to make disciples the world over?
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I sure hope so.
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INVITATION: (STAND) I do not know what your faith issue is today. Maybe God has been moving you to trust and obey Him in a certain area of your life that seems impossible. Maybe you have given up witnessing to that friend or family member. Maybe you have never stepped out and told someone about Jesus ever. You may have believed that your faith was too small, but God wants to use that small faith if you put it in Him. If you obey him, because that is what faith truly is, obeying God, following God when it seems impossible to do so.
He is faithful. Listen to this song as we have our invitation this morning. [Great Is Thy Faithfulness (Beginning to End)]
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SALVATION- This has been mainly for those who are saved, but we would love to talk to you if you are not sure about your relationship with Christ...
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We are going to do something a bit different for Life Groups today. There is still so much to unpack and apply on a personal level about faith. We are going to do that during life groups. I am going to ask the teens to stay in here as well as the adults.
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If you don't normally stay for this part of the service, I am going to beg you to do so. If you walk out of here with what has been said up to now, you will have some good Bible knowledge on faith, but what we are will try to do during the next session will be to look for applications that will directly affect you. So I encourage you to stay.
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LIFE GROUPS:
Hebrews 11:1
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Does anyone here ever have trouble having faith?
Don't raise your hand right now, but how many of you would say that on a scale of 1 - 10 your faith is a 7 or above?
I am not talking about having faith in humanity or in others, I mean truly believing God?
I would dare say that in this room among adults and teens, most of us have a small faith. Those that would be honest and admit to having a small faith, I would dare say have believed the lie that God cannot work through you as well as through others because of your small faith.
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Do you realize that Jesus only ever commended 2 people on their "great faith" and neither of those people were even Jews? (Roman centurion whose son needed healing / Canaanite woman whose daughter needed healing from an evil spirit)
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His disciples were directly told at least three times and at least once indirectly that they had little faith. Jesus chose those with little faith to start the Christian movement.
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If you think little faith placed in the right person can't do much, just look at when Jesus tells Peter about his little faith.
Matthew 14:23-31
23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. 24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. 27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. 28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
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Little faithed Peter walked on water!! He only sunk because his faith changed objects. First his faith was in Jesus, then his faith was in his ability to stay up in that storm. Then his faith was in Jesus again, and he walked back to the ship on the water!!!!!!!!!!!!! All while being of little faith.
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Have you ever found yourself in situations where it is easy to have faith?
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Why is it so hard to have faith sometimes?
Control
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What areas do you struggle with faith?
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I think our lack of faith or our misaligned faith boils down to this: we misunderstand who God really is. We won't understand Him fully until we are in Heave, and even then, we will know Him as He is, but I wonder if we will ever be able to understand Him fully. But regardless, He has revealed so much of Himself to us, and we either are ignorant of what He has revealed, or we take it for granted.
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Over the next few weeks in our service, we will be going through a series of sermons called Knowing God. My hope is that this really opens up our eyes and refreshes our thoughts about the greatness of who our God is.
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Because I am trusting in a great and amazing God, I have adopted a vision statement for our church.
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Good News Baptist Church will be a church that lovingly impacts our community and the world with the truth of the Gospel.
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How? Discipleship, mentoring, and training.
Pastor > Leadership Teams > Congregation > Community >> Building relationships, serving our part of the world unconditionally, planting churches, mission trips, sending missionaries.