Faith That Changes
Faith That Changes
January 15, 2005 and January 16, 2005
Introduction/Review
Last week we looked at two Bible stories and talked about “What You Believe About Your Future”. That is another way of saying “FAITH”. We said that if you believe your future is bright in God-you are right. We also said that if you believe your future is not so bright-you are still right. In other words; you choose what you believe and that is called faith. God and the universe respond to the faith that you express in God.
We looked at the story of the shipwreck where Paul said;
“I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.”(Acts 27:25 NIV)
We looked at the story where the man brought his son to Jesus to be delivered from demonic influence and he said to Jesus:
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 NIV)
prayer
-May be you are having doubts about the future. Maybe you are in that second category where you wonder if you even have any faith.
Mark 9 NIV (v23)
“Everything is possible for him who believes.”
-Let’s talk about faith that changes.
-Faith doesn’t just accept things the way they are or the way they are supposed to be. Faith changes circumstances into God’s purpose and God’s will.
1. FAITH THAT CHANGES YOU
-It all begins as an inside job.
-If you want things to change the change must begin on the inside of you.
Example testimony
It was when I heard the message of faith that hope and joy came into my life. I was subconsciously under the impression that my life was out of my control. I was a Calvinist and didn’t even know what it was. This whole notion that God is just sovereign and you have nothing to say about your life is disheartening. Some people call that fatalism. It is Doris Day theology-Qe sera sera, whatever will be will be, the futures not ours to se qe sera sera.
When I heard that your choices and your faith and your attitude can change your life….what a day! And it was God’s idea. He simply wanted me to be a co-laborer and worker with Him.
-What a revelation. God isn’t just trying to crush me to see how much pain I can take before I give in. The last time I looked that was called torture.
-Faith has to change you first!
Optimist
/an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome[1] (Webster’s)/
It is from the word meaning “BEST”.
-Isn’t that a great word? I would rather be an optimist and be wrong than a pessimist and be right.
-Faith in God transforms you attitude and outlook.
-It doesn’t mean you are problem free…….you just walk in victory.
-The way to change on the inside is to change the way you think so your mind can be renewed according to the truth.
-Covey says to begin with the end in mind…..that is Biblical.
-I have a little booklet I wrote for myself; “Where is Your Faith?”
-Jesus said that to His disciples.
Luke 8
22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.
24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.
/In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” [2] /
-He didn’t say they didn’t have faith. He just asked them what it was in.
-You have faith in doctors when you let them cut you open.
-You have faith in pilots when you let them propel you 35,000 feet into the air and you just hope they aren’t drunk.
-You have faith working in your life right now. You are doing the stuff. You believe it you confess it and you act on it.
-The key to faith is redirecting it properly.
-On the inside of you is the control that determines where your faith will be set.
-Jesus said; “HAVE FAITH IN GOD”.
-Ask yourself; working backwards; what you believe about;
· Eternity
· Death (Paul said to die is gain, to live is to help you) It is win /win. I am always a victor.
· The Future (Isaiah 60:1-3)
· Your future and your purpose
-You have to change first. Where is your faith? What do you believe? What issues to you need to settle?
-Hang out with the Bible and pray in the spirit. Ask yourself these hard questions. Settle some issues. Great joy and optimism comes out of that. Really that is hope.
Webster’s
Hope-to expect with confidence//desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment[3] /
Hope against hope/-to hope without any basis for expecting fulfillment[4]/
Romans 4 NASB
17 (as it is written, “aA father of many nations have I made you”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, bwho gives life to the dead and 1ccalls into being dthat which does not exist.
18In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become aa father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “bSo shall your 1descendants be.”[5]
-You have faith to change your attitude and outlook.
-Faith is the only ladder out of the whole you may be in.
2. Faith to Change Circumstances
-This is where it begins to affect circumstances in your life and in those around you.
-You need money or you need healing or someone brings you a prayer request.
-How do you respond properly?
-Don’t have a blind faith.
-Build your prayer life and thinking on the will of God.
-Don’t just be an optimist based on nothing……have faith in God.
John 15 NIV
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8
1 John 5
14 /This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. [6] /
-Faith begins where the will of God is known.
-What has God said about that?
-Spend time with the situation and let God speak specifically to you.
Dodie Osteen example
She repented, forgave others, checked her heart, checked the Word and had her husband pray for her.
-Fake faith is when you act it but you don’t really believe it. You acted before you were convinced.
-Get the Word and convince yourself.
Ephesians 6 NIV
17 /Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. [7] /
-This is literally saying and praying the Word.
-The sword of the Spirit is the SPOKEN WORD OF GOD.
3. Faith That Changes Your World
-Faith is from God. The term “Word of Faith” is in Romans 10. The message of faith is right. Faith is one of the three virtues that will continue into the next age.
-I believe we have had a correct message with incorrect examples.
-We often hear faith taught in connection to watches, and houses and jets. Good message, poor examples.
-That is how the world measures success. Are we aiming at the same goal?
-Lester Sumrall said we need; “Faith not just to bless your chickens in your backyard. Faith not just to help your car run. But faith to change the world.”
David Shibley says concerning prosperity and faith; “Plainly and simply, success is to know God’s will for your life and do it joyfully…. Poverty is an insult to the dignity of persons. But the proclivity toward sophisticated idolatry among the rich is equally dehumanizing….Heroic stories of laying aside fortunes for missionary work, of investing one’s life in a remote habitation, almost sound senseless to many today…..Some have stressed that “Jesus died to give us the good life”…..we often seem to measure our success by the strength of our pocketbooks….Gain is not necessarily godliness….At the judgment seat of Christ more than one faith confessing Charismatic will have to sputter out a reason why he chose to claim classy cars instead of countries.”
-We need to speak prophetically to our nation and the Body of Christ in this nation and lift up our eyes…the harvest is ripe.
-We have had great training to use our faith. We have asked God for things and received them. I am grateful that He has blessed me and this church and others as well.
1 Corinthians 11
11 /When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. [8] /
-Grow up and realize what is important. You came to the Kingdom for such a time as this.
-Your personal blessing is a by-product of your focus on God’s priorities.
-What does that mean?
-It means I am believing God to help us put an extra $150-$200,000 into China in the next three years. I am believing to see Haiti ministering from the Clinic, planting churches, and teaching kids. I am believing to be in good shape and anointed to impact these underground church leaders. I am believing for missionaries and churches to come out of here. I am expecting the whole region to be shaken in the fall with the Drama then Alpha then and outreach to the schools in the spring of 2006. I am believing t pay off the building so we can expand again and grow faster than the population growth of East Central Missouri.
-Its like being on a team and instead of believing and working towards a victory…you just selfishly hope you score and look good.
-Your best comes out when your motive is right.
Galatians 5 NIV
/The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. [9]/
-Faith has no real expression without love.
Galatians 5 NASB
faith working through love
Proverbs 11 NASB
22 As a aring of gold in a swine’s snout
So is a beautiful woman who lacks 1discretion.
23 The desire of the righteous is only good,
But the aexpectation of the wicked is wrath.
24 There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more,
And there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want.
25 The 1agenerous man will be 2prosperous,
And he who bwaters will himself be watered.
26 He who withholds grain, the apeople will curse him,
But bblessing will be on the head of him who csells it.
27 He who diligently seeks good seeks favor,
But ahe who seeks evil, evil will come to him.
28 He who atrusts in his riches will fall,
/But bthe righteous will flourish like the green leaf.[10]/
-Sometimes riches are out of place on some people like a pig showing up with a gold ring or wearing a pair of Gucci shoes.
v 25 says a generous man but literally in the original that says; “a soul of blessing”.
-A soul that is determined to bless. A heart set on blessing.
-In closing lets think about Abraham. He is our example and the Bible says he is the father of our faith.
Genesis 12 NASB
1 Now athe Lord said to Abram,“1Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And aI will make you a great nation, And bI will bless you, And make your name great; And so 1cyou shall be a blessing;3 And aI will bless those who bless you, And the one who 1curses you I will 2curse. bAnd in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”[11]
-Here is our pattern. God says believe me and I will bless you. I will make your name great. All of the families, the ethnic people groups, the “mishpachah /mish·paw·khaw” will be blessed through you.
-Abraham was to be blessed for a reason. God was thinking through him and beyond him. Doesn’t it seem foolish to think of Abraham to stand up and tell how wonderful his latest sheep or latest blanket was.
-He had a focus. He had faith to change the world. He was living in the same dream God was living in. (By the way…God made him very rich personally but it was not Abraham’s focus.)
LIVE IN GOD’S DREAM WITH HIM/HAVE FAITH TO CHANGE THE WORLD.
----
[1]Merriam-Webster, I. (1996, c1993). Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary. Includes index. (10th ed.). Springfield, Mass., U.S.A.: Merriam-Webster.
[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Lk 8:22). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[3]Merriam-Webster, I. (1996, c1993). Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary. Includes index. (10th ed.). Springfield, Mass., U.S.A.: Merriam-Webster.
[4]Merriam-Webster, I. (1996, c1993). Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary. Includes index. (10th ed.). Springfield, Mass., U.S.A.: Merriam-Webster.
a Gen 17:5
b John 5:21
1 Lit calls the things which do not exist as existing
c Is 48:13; 51:2
d 1 Cor 1:28
a Rom 4:17
b Gen 15:5
1 Lit seed
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Ro 4:17). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[6]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Jn 5:14). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[7]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Eph 6:17). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[8]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Co 13:11). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[9]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Ga 5:6). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
a Gen 24:47
1 Lit taste
a Prov 10:28; Rom 2:8, 9
1 Lit soul of blessing
a Prov 3:9, 10; 2 Cor 9:6, 7
2 Lit made fat
b Matt 5:7
a Prov 24:24
b Job 29:13
c Gen 42:6
a Esth 7:10; Ps 7:15, 16; 57:6
a Ps 49:6; Mark 10:25; 1 Tim 6:17
b Ps 1:3; 92:12; Jer 17:8
[10]New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Pr 11:22). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
a Gen 15:7; Acts 7:3; Heb 11:8
1 Lit Go for yourself
a Gen 17:4–6; 18:18; 46:3; Deut 26:5
b Gen 22:17
1 Lit be a blessing
c Zech 8:13
a Gen 24:35; 27:29; Num 24:9
1 Or reviles
2 Or bind under a curse
b Gen 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; Acts 3:25; Gal 3:8
[11]New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Ge 12:1). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.