Sola Fide

Sola Fide

1 My people, hear my instruction;

listen to the words from my mouth.

2 I will declare wise sayings;

I will speak mysteries from the past—

3 things we have heard and known

and that our fathers have passed down to us.

4 We will not hide them from their children,

but will tell a future generation

the praiseworthy acts of the Lord,

his might, and the wondrous works

he has performed.

5 He established a testimony in Jacob

and set up a law in Israel,

which he commanded our fathers

to teach to their children

6 so that a future generation—

children yet to be born—might know.

They were to rise and tell their children

7 so that they might put their confidence in God

and not forget God’s works,

but keep his commands.

8 Then they would not be like their fathers,

a stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation whose heart was not loyal

and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Parents, will you entrust your children to God — to his providential plan and care? Will you commit, with the help of this church community, to instruct your children by word and example, in the truth of God’s Word? Will you commit to pray for them and teach them to pray? 

Olive

Will you commit, with the help of this church community, to instruct your children by word and example, in the truth of God’s Word? 

Boone

Do you, the people of the Lord, promise to receive these children in love, pray for them, help instruct them in the faith, and encourage and sustain them in this fellowship of believers?

Will you commit to pray for them and teach them to pray? 

Lincoln

With joy and thanksgiving, as Christ’s church,

With God’s help, we promise to love, encourage, and support you 

As you follow Christ and train your children in the faith. 

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By one of works? No, on the contrary, by a law of faith. For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness. Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness.

As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations. He is our father in God’s sight, in whom Abraham believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do. Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Jeremiah 9:23 ESV

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 9:23–24 ESV

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

Practical Believing in God

1. To know that reality is greater than how we feel or how things appear.

2. To focus on facts about God. 

3. To trust the bare word of God.

“Trust him. And when you have done that, you are living the life of grace. No matter what happens to you in the course of that trusting — no matter how many waverings you may have….no matter how much heaviness and sadness your lapses, vices, indispositions, and bratty whining may cause you — you believe simply that Somebody Else, by his death and resurrection, has made it all right, and you just say thank you and shut up. The whole slop-closet full of mildewed performances (which is all you have to offer) is simply your death; it is Jesus who is your life. . . . At the very worst, all you can be is dead — and for him who is the Resurrection and the Life, that just makes you his cup of tea.” Robert Farrar Capon