Foundations - Faith

Hook

As I was looking toward this new year a few months back there were a few series that I really wanted to talk about with you all. The first of those series we are going to be beginning tonight which I simply titled, Foundations

What we are going to be talking about in this series is simply what are the foundational things that I should know about the Christian life? The first topic I wanted to cover is Faith.

What is it, and why is it important?

How many of you like roller coasters?

I have a love/hate relationship with them. But I remember my first time riding a “big kid” roller coaster, you know the one that is tall and has loops and stuff. The one that people will wait in line for an hour or so to ride.

So there I was, terrified, but around a bunch of the older, cool kids in my youth group so I had to act chill and confident. Describe Mr. Freeze

To make a someone long story short, I did indeed ride the coaster, but I lost my voice due to screaming my lungs out.

While a fun story and example, it required faith for me to risk my life and ride that ride. I put my trust in the people who build that coaster, the people running the coaster and the woman who check my safety belt.

Or to use another example

Sitting in the chair you are in right now, getting in the car to get here,

Or in a more serious note, some of you are putting your faith in a relationship, a crush, a drug, or a website to bring the statisfaction you are desiring.

My conviction is that there is no one who can satisify the desire to be known and loved other than Jesus.

And we come to be known and loved by Jesus through our faith in Him.

Head

But before we ge too deep into that, we need to answer the question, what is faith, then we can answer who we are to put our faith in.

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

For the writers in Scripture, faith was a reality of life. They

Heart

We all have faith

Faith is part of being human

As I alluded to earlier, when you sat down earlier, you had faith that the chair you are sitting in was going to hold you up. You had faith in whoever drove you here that they would drive in a way that wouldn’t risk an accident.

Hebrews chapter 11 is an incredible chapter in not only the book of Hebrews, but in the entire bible. In it the writer details the faith that people had. We see examples from men and women from the Old Testament. We see Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Joesph, Rahab, and more.

The question is not, do you have faith. But rather, who or what are you putting your faith in?

Faith begins the journey (of salvation)

Faith sustains the journey

Hands

Who or what are you putting your faith in right now?