IT'S BY FAITH

We’ve come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord, Trusting in His holy word, He’s never failed me yet, oh oh oh oh, can’t turn around, we’ve come this far by faith.

Faith - it’s a hard thing to understand and even harder at times to exercise. The Bible tells us to have faith. A search reveals that depending on the translation you have, the word faith appears anywhere from 336 to 521 times.

In fact, there is a whole chapter which talks about faith. Hebrews 11 is called the faith chapter and it gives a list of people we sometimes refer to as being in the Faith Hall of Fame.

We are in a time where we have come this far by faith. Our ancestors survived on the faith that things would get better for their children. We live with the hope that life will be fair for us and those coming behind us. We believe that we shall overcome someday; but when we look at the world around us, we’re left wondering will “someday” ever come. The question swirls in our minds like the weary child in the back seat of the family car on a trip asking the question, “Are we there yet?” And the answer comes back, “Not yet.”

Faith; is an often used, but seldom understood word the religious community regularly throws out, usually at a time when things aren’t going so well. “Just have faith, things will get better.” But with those words, many offer no direction on how things will get better and no instructions on a way to acquire this faith.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.” The Message paraphrase Bible says it this way, “The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.”

We’re asked to have faith in processes, that they are going to work the way they are supposed to work. We expect that in a democracy people will cast their vote, that every vote will be counted and when the people have spoken, their choice will be honored. We don’t expect there to be unsubstantiated accusations of voter fraud and pressure placed on other elected officials to nullify the people’s choice. Have faith in the process?

We’re asked to have faith in the legal system, a system which touts that justice is blind, yet it seems that she is peeking from beneath her blindfold and when Black men come before her, they are incarcerated at a rate of 5 times that of White men. Yet we are to have faith in the legal system?

We’re asked to have faith in organizations who are supposed to be there to help finance businesses, like those tasked to give federal loans during a pandemic. Yet, in 86% of the cases race was not recorded, but of the 14% of the loans given where race was identified, 83% of those loans went to White owned businesses and just 2% went to Black owned businesses. Have faith in organizations?

We are asked to have faith in the police, whose motto says, “To serve and protect.” Nowhere in there does it say protect one race of people differently than another, yet Black men are 2 1/2 times more likely to be killed by the police than White men. Have faith in the police?

And now it’s going to get really dicey. We’re told to have faith in the church. Yet; and this is not every church or church leader, praise God; yet there are pockets where children are being sexually abused and it’s covered up; pastors, married and single, are sleeping with multiple members of their congregation, sometimes fathering children who go unclaimed to protect the ministry.

There are those in what is called the evangelical community who shout from the roof tops to protect the unborn yet support the death penalty. And the Bible has been and continues to be used to support racism and sexism in the church, deciding who can lead based on gender, when the Bible clearly says that God is not a respecter of persons. Have faith in the church?

Faith— it sometimes seems like an elusive, hard to understand and at times misunderstood emotion or action. Faith is the opposite of doubt. So when someone says to have faith, what does that look like?

Turn with me to Gen 12:1-4 and then we’re going to go over to the New Testament in Rom 4:13 and we’re going to look at an example of faith in action; after all, faith without works is dead.

Gen 12:1-4 - 1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him;

Rom 4:13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

The title of today’s message is, “It’s by Faith”.

When we’re asked to have faith in so many things, people and processes and we’re repeatedly left, discouraged, disenchanted, disgruntled, disillusioned, dissatisfied and disappointed with what is happening around and to us, faith is something that on the surface seems far away at best, and impossible at worst. But I would submit to you, put your faith in the unchanging, unfailing, indisputable, all knowing, all powerful, ever present, sovereign God of the universe, who even when we don’t understand, makes no mistakes.

There are times when God will give us a task or direction and we have no idea what will happen, we can’t even see the beginning, let alone the end, but we are told like Abram to go.

Our text begins with, Now the Lord said to Abram, at this point we see his name is still Abram. Up to now he has followed his father Terah who was going to Canaan, stopped in Haran, and died there. We don’t know why he stopped, but he did and never completed his journey.

So Abram has just lost his father, he is the oldest of Terah’s sons, and now the Lord is speaking directly to Abram and he gives him something to do; “Go (this signifies action or works) go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

God told Abram to go, leave everything he knew, everything he was familiar with, his country, his father’s home, and all his relatives and go to somewhere he would show him. He couldn’t even map out where he was going, he was just to start moving.

Can you imagine that conversation?

Abram: “Honey pack up your stuff we’re moving.”

Sarai: “Where are we going?”

Abram: “I don’t know, but God told me to leave.”

Sarai: “Is our family going with us?”

Abram: No, just us.

Sarai: How will we live?

Abram: God will provide.

Sarai: Are you sure?

Abram: Yes.

Now God didn’t tell him where he was going, but he did tell him what he was going to do. God said, “2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

Oh that first part sounds great, he was going to make of him a great nation, except — Abram and his wife Sarai had no children, she was barren and a great nation includes heirs.

Not only that, God promised he was going to bless him and make his name great so that he would be a blessing. How many would like your name to be great? Do you want it for your glory or to bless others? Is there anybody out there who wants to be a blessing?

Everybody wants to receive a blessing, but God needs people who want to be a blessing, who understand it’s not about us, who have a heart for the people of God no matter their race, creed, color, nationality or particular sin.

3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

When God is on your side, or more correctly put when you’re on God’s side, doing his will, in his way others will be blessed because of you. And for those who oppose your obedience to God, well it sucks to be them. Then God said in Abram, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. When you are the seed of Abraham, whether you were born into or adopted into the family you are the seed of Abraham, therefore entitled to the blessing.

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him;

When your faith is in God, he will challenge you with things you may think impossible, but what you need to know is this, when God puts his extra on your ordinary, extraordinary things can and will happen, you just need to avail yourself to His process and watch Him work. That you can believe.

When you go, you are being obedient and the blessings of God are tied up, wrapped up and tangled up in your obedience.

• When you are obedient to God, he can trust you with his plan. He can trust you to do what he says, when he says, the way he says to do it.

• When you are obedient to God, others will be blessed.

• When you are obedient to God, he will separate you out, he will set you apart for his service.

Are you willing to leave all to serve God? It’s an important question and your answer is even more important because your answer will determine where you spend eternity.

We don’t talk about hell often these days, in this culture of everything goes, if it feels good do it and love the one you’re with. But hell just like heaven is very real and

• those who have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior

• those who choose to live their lives as if there is no God

• those who don’t do religion

• those who doubt the word of God and feel no need to repent, those who fail to believe that the penalty for sin, all sin, there are no categories, there is no big sin or little sin, it’s all the same to God, he hates it all and the penalty for it is death.

• those who fail to recognize this world was created by God the Creator and not a big bang

• all those have made their choice.

God gave us the power to choose life or death and it’s not about following a bunch of rules, it’s not about being legalistic and unyielding.

This journey is about love. Loving God first and foremost and loving your neighbor as you love yourself.

No one will get everything right all the time that’s why we are under the dispensation of grace. Jesus died on a cross for our sins; He died for everyone’s sins and for every sin, they’re all covered. So before condemning your neighbor to hell, check yourself—

have you gossiped?

have you lusted in your mind?

have you been a backbiter?

have you complained about your leader be it church or at work?

have you lied?

have you been malicious?

have you been deceitful?

have you lacked mercy?

The point is—all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God but praise be to God for grace. It’s God’s grace that saved us, it’s his grace that carries us, it’s his grace that protects us, and his grace will lead us home.

Grace, his grace is amazing, but it is his mercy that spares our lives.

• His mercy gives us the opportunity to turn to him.

• His mercy gives us the opportunity to repent.

• His mercy gives us the opportunity for redemption.

• His mercy gives us the opportunity for salvation.

• His mercy gives us the opportunity for eternal life in heaven.

You will spend eternity somewhere; you must decide where that will be.

It’s not about following rules, it’s not about laws, it’s about obedience to God. When we look at Rom 4:13 we see, “For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.”

Abram received this edict to go and the promise of blessings before he was circumcised, it was before the law of the Ten Commandments was ever written and by faith he believed God, he packed up his family and he went.

• He went knowing only that God would lead him to where he was supposed to go.

• He went trusting that God would provide what he needed for the journey.

• He went believing that God would protect him along the way.

• He went convinced that God would keep his promise.

• He went confident that God would indeed bless him.

• He went with only the evidence of what he had seen God do before but no proof that he would do it again. He went by faith.

We are asked to have faith in processes, in the legal system, in organizations, in the police, and even in the church, but what I’m telling you today, is put your faith in God,

• the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the world and they that dwell therein.

• the One who sits high and looks low

• the One who made man a little lower than the angels

• the One who set the captives free

• the One who will never leave you, nor forsake you

• the One who is your all in all

• whatever you need God’s got it and he will supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

What is it you need today? I’m here to tell you that God’s got it.

• Try God you won’t be discouraged. Because the Bible says, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.”

• Try God you won’t be disenchanted. Because the Bible says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord rescues them from them all.”

• Try God you won’t be disgruntled. Because the Bible says, “This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble.”

• Try God you won’t be disillusioned. Because the Bible says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.”

• Try God you won’t be dissatisfied. Because the Bible says, “With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.”

• Try God, you won’t be disappointed. This is not to say you will never have tribulation, it’s not to say that everything will go your way, because the Bible says, “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

And not only that, “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.”

When your faith is in God he will reach down from on high and draw you out of mighty waters. He will deliver you from your strong enemies and those who hate you. Don’t worry about them overpowering you. Even though they confront you, the Lord is your support. He will bring you to a broad place, he will deliver you because when you are his, he delights in you. The Lord will reward you according to your righteousness and when you have accepted Jesus as the Lord and Savior of your life, God sees you through the righteousness and the blood of his dear Son.

Faith is trusting that something will happen even when you can’t see it or don’t know how it’s possible, yet you still believe it will be.

Put your faith in God; faith in God begins by accepting his Son as Lord of your life, salvation is not about being baptized, it’s not about the Lord’s Supper, it’s not about coming before a room full of people, the Scripture says, “…if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.”

If you would like to acquire the faith I’ve been preaching about I invite you to pray this prayer with me, “Lord, I confess I’m a sinner, please forgive me, I believe Jesus is the Son of God and that he died for my sins. Please come into my heart and be Lord of my life.”

If you prayed that simple prayer for the first time, welcome to the family. Please reach out and let us know. Or perhaps you made that quality decision before, but you’re not connected to a church and would like to connect with us, you can reply right now on this feed by whatever medium you’re watching or you can send us an email to [e-mail] and we will contact you.

You can get all our information, how to join our services, see other messages, how to contact us, or how to contribute financially to this ministry at our website, www.lovechristianctr.org.

Put your faith in God, because it’s in him that we live, and move, and have our being;

It’s by faith that we go to bed every night believing that we will wake the next morning

It’s by faith that we believe when we put our feet on the floor our legs will hold our weight and we will be able to stand

It’s by faith that we believe that in the end we win. No matter what the enemy is doing, no matter what it looks like, no matter how bleak it may seem; wait on the Lord, be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart.

When you want to get better at something like sports, you practice, practice, practice. Well, if you want your faith to be stronger? Obey, obey, obey. The more you obey the more you will see God working through you and the stronger your faith will become.