Faith

Introduction

How big is your faith?

Faith — Belief plus trust which equals a changed life. But if I was to be involved in your life on an intimate, regular basis…how much change has happened because of your belief in God and trust of Him?

Someone once said that Christians today live a lot like atheists. They talk a good talk and will even become incensed if you challenge their belief in God but it hasn’t translated into a life that looks much different rom those who deny His existence.

Someone once said that if it turned out the atheists were right and we discovered with absolute proof that God did not exist, many churches would be unaffected by the news. They could continue on with business as usual and never miss a beat.

How is this possible? Because we, in our lives personally and in our lives corporately, are often guilty of small time living. We fail to trust God for God sized things and our life looks a lot like those who aren’t depending upon God at all.

Psalm 81:10

Psalm 81:10 CSB

I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

Psalm 81 itself consists of two distinct elements. The first is a summons to praise God with fervor (vv. 1–5b). Then a word from God is given, an oracle in the form of a prophetic utterance

God is the one speaking in verse 10. He is calling His people to remember what He has done in the past and have faith for Him to do big things in the present. Believers in God often need to be reminded to have big faith.

Do you need such a reminder today? Does the world push you to faith right now? We are living in some of the craziest times seen in at least two and maybe three generations. Not since World War 2 have we seen the potential for an existential threat to our way of life.

The need for Christians to live what they say they believe, have big faith and accomplish big things with and for the glory of God has never been so obvious and real. Our nation needs to see a demonstration of the power and reality of Christ.

But in order to do so…we must have faith. Faith to die to self, be humble, live in Christ and demonstrate His power, character to the world.

How Do We Shine

We have been called to two things, Love God, love people and lead the lost to Him so they might do the same. There has never been a more pressing need for Christians to fulfill the call of God to these two mandates from Christ.

Loving God means making Him the priority of our life. It means dying to self and living in Him…and it means standing for truth, righteousness, holiness and love.

We are living among a people who are abandoning God and the idea of God at a record pace.

In 1948, only two percent of Americans considered themselves to be nonreligious. Although that number steadily grows over the years, it doesn’t hit double digits until 2002 (that’s only an increase of seven percent in 54 years)—but between 2002 and 2016 it jumps from 10 to 18 percent.

Gen Z—the generation following the millennials—is the least Christian generation to date, according to a new Barna study – 34 percent of Gen Z’s religious affiliation is either atheist, agnostic or none.

We are living in a country in which the idea of truth, absolute and real truth, is denied. We live in a nation where one of our political parties champions the murder of children in the womb, gay marriage and openly attacks believers in Christ for opposing such views.

We have a candidate for Vice President right now who has openly challenged and ridiculed Christians up for senate confirmation...

Brian Buescher. “Were you aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed a woman’s right to choose when you joined the organization?” she asked. “Have you ever, in any way, assisted with or contributed to advocacy against women’s reproductive rights? Were you aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed marriage equality when you joined the organization?” 

In other words, if you belong to a religious organization that believes in the right to life, you’re unqualified for a federal judgeship. If you give money to a pro-life group, you’re unfit to be a judge.

Harris’ chilling “Do No Harm” act would limit the exercise of religious liberty outside the walls of a church. That (religious) liberty has “been understood as personal, relating only to individual believers and to a limited class of associations comprising or representing them,” she claims. It only protects “an ‘inner sanctum’ of personal religious faith.” Kamala Harris does not believe in religious liberty as understood in our constitution.

Our country is entering dark days and we have allowed it to happen. Those in the pulpit have allowed it. How? By refusing to speak out on the moral issues affecting our culture and government. We have been afraid to lead our people and speak to the issues of the day for fear our personal livelihoods might be affected.

Preachers once were tempted to cower for fear of losing their life…today preachers cower for fear of losing their paycheck.

So believers don’t know the BLM is a marxist organization…the democratic party supports abortion and does so even into the third trimester and does not support religious freedom.