Faith -- What's The Point?"

Did you know that there is no single thing in this human

life that will ever be as important to you as learning

how to LIVE and ACT in FAITH?

Did you know that the word "faith" is mentioned almost

250 times in the Bible? Why do you think that is? And the

great majority of those mentions (more than 90%!) are in

the New Testament.

But what is faith, really?

1faith \ˈfāth\ n

1 a : allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty

b (1) : fidelity to one’s promises

(2) : sincerity of intentions

2 a (1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God

(2) : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion

b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof

(2) : complete trust

3 : something that is believed esp. with strong conviction esp : a system of religious beliefs 〈the Protestant faith〉 syn see belief —on faith : without question 〈took everything he said on faith〉

It's the positive side of "belief" -- a word that is also

mentioned almost 200 times in its various forms -- and again,

almost all in the New Testament.

What's the message here, especially for Christians?

Faith: What's The Point, Really?"

I you have your Bibles please turn with me to Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Pray

What the writer here is saying while the object of faith by its very nature cannot be seen, He will go on to remind us that its presence has a vital impact on our lives and character. Real faith produces startling results.

Here we have, I. A definition or description of the grace of faith in two parts. 1. It is the substance of things hoped for. Faith and hope go together; and the same things that are the object of our hope are the object of our faith. “, the evidence of things not seen. We must look to the future to Gods promise and know that even though we can not see all of them physically, we know that He will make good on His word”. He always has.

In the world today we rarely think about faith. We live in a show me now time, or if it is going to be it’s up to me. We spend all our time putting faith in all the wrong things and not focusing on the right things. We need as a country to learn to have faith , we need as a individual to learn what true faith is, we need as a Christian to learn what God says about faith and why. I mean why not? The entire Christian foundation is founded on what? FAITH.

So I ask you is there really any point to living in faith—or is it just some "abstract" Bible concept?

Well, the simple truth is that everybody lives in some kind of "faith." Some people live in the faith that there is no God, or that God is not approachable. Some people live in the faith that it's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and everybody is out to get them.

Other people believe that you have to struggle for everything you get in life. Are those your beliefs? If so, what kind of experience is life bringing you?

Would you prefer instead to enjoy a life full of peace, love, self-empowerment, freedom, serenity, and fearlessness? If so, here's something to think about.

Every day of your life, you will be living in some kind of faith. It will either be faith in God, or faith in no God. But the choice is up to you, and you will choose one, either consciously, or unconsciously.

Considering the options, from a purely practical point of view, wouldn't it make a whole lot more sense to embrace the kind of beliefs that that will bring you a life of peace, love, self-empowerment, freedom, serenity, and fearlessness...

...than to have the kinds of beliefs where you ending up dragging through life, just one disappointment after another--the way most people do?

I once heard it said, that worrying is meditating on the lies of the devil. My way of putting it is a bit different: I say that worrying is your way of telling God you don't think He has things handled—at least, not the things in your life.

Is that really the message you want to send to God?

If not, I would like to personally invite you to "live the fearless life" that strong faith brings—especially if you are expecting God to give or help you get you whatever it is you really want.

Why is "positive" faith so important? Because in this life, we "create" what we expect—what we dwell on. If you live in fear, you eventually get to experience what you fear.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power,

and of love, and of a sound mind... (2 Timothy 1:7)

So be in faith, no matter what! When you fear, you not only pollute your present-moment experience, but sabotage your own future experience as well. But when you live in faith, you get to have a peaceful and positive experience now and you open the door to whatever blessings God wants to give you in the future!

Mark4:40 says

But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

Jesus rebuked His disciples for being afraid (deiloi, “cowardly fear”) in a crisis. Despite Jesus’ tutoring. it still had not dawned on them that God’s authority and power were present in Jesus. This is what He meant by His second question, Do you still have no faith?

They were with the Messiah, they should have known that nothing would happen to them but they lacked faith.

Have you ever put your faith into something that let you down? Or a system that didn’t work? Or people who didn’t care?

As I start to close, I want to leave you with this turn with me to:

Matthew 6:30

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?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

The Greek indicates that the content of the clause is assumed to be true. That is why in the Greek it translatestranslates it as a statement: “It is God who clothes the wild grass....” The form of the argument, which moves from the lesser to the greater, God cares for the wild grass (the lesser) and, therefore, he will care for you (the greater). The Greek also takes “ O you of little faith? and translates it to “What little faith you have “.

Many translators will make this a short sentence such as “You have so little faith!” or “Your faith in God is so small!” Jesus is rebuking the people, and this tone should be communicated, however the sentence is translated.

V31 gives us a command “Jesus says do not worry”! Another way to handle this verse is to say “Don’t keep on worrying about where your food, drink, or clothes will come from” or “Don’t let yourself be distracted with worries about how you will get something to eat and drink and clothing to wear.”

V32-33 tells us not to get bogged down with materiel things, for instance: Brand name clothes or brand name shoes, but our world makes us that way. Kids in school do not want to be picked on for wearing bobo shoes or bobo clothes. God knows you need clothes, it might be Hollister or Billabong, or in my case real tree or mossy oak but He will cloth you. All of this takes your focus off of the Kingdom or takes your eyes off of God, and when that happens you let satan have a foot hold. We need not to think about tomorrow because does not promise tomorrow only today, and if you focus on Him He will meet your needs

So what’s the point about FAITH. Well Faith is what our very existence is for. Life is a test. Can you have faith in something you have not yet seen. Jesus says in

John 20:29

29 Jesus said to him,“Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Do you have faith that if you ask Christ into your heart He will come? Do you have faith to let Christ lead your life? He only wants you to turn it all over to Him today. If you have never turned all over to him or ever accepted Christ at all He is calling you now, for some He has been calling for awhile, for others he is calling now. What ever the case may be if He is calling you, you come as we stand I want all heads bow as we play this song you answer Gods call today.

amen