Foundational faith #1

Northside Church

July 24, 2022

Chen family visit

Foundational faith #1

Intro DC, Rosanna, and maybe Charlie

We wanted to have a little fun with you guys…

Sticks with pictures on the end…

Who is more likely to… and your job is to hold up the face of the one that you think is most likely to do… whatever that is.

Jamey’s

Go skydiving

Eat adventurous foods

Unapologetically eat the last cookie

Spend three hours reading a book

Cry during a movie

Freak out during a stressful situation

Sell all you have and join a monastery

Initiate a date night

Get a speeding ticket

Matt’s

Sing in the rain?

Blame a fart on your kid

Throw up after a roller coaster

Daniel will share 5-10 minutes of his story

Jamey will pray over Daniel

God would guide the Chen family and Northside to what was ultimately best first for His Kingdom, but also… for them and for NS.

For Charlie

For upcoming birth

If you have any feedback… would you let us know in the next day or two. Email office.

If everything goes as planned we expect to be offering a Job to Daniel soon.

Start date would likely be Oct. 1.

I will tell you this… that every connection point I’ve had with others about Daniel and Rosanna has been incredibly positive.

The primary role for our associate is will be…

Working with most Min team leaders (communication/team building/strategy/help)

Working with assimilation; welcoming new people

Helping oversee aspects of Discipleship

Helping with Larger events and projects as part of the team

And one of the things that every single reference I called said about Daniel was that they thought this position and Northside would really be an excellent fit for Daniel.

What an exciting time..

Today with the time I have left I want to introduce the next sermon series…

We are calling it “Foundational Faith”...

I think the overall goal is to help us all step back and ask the question…

What role is faith really playing in my life?

Man that sounds like an intimidating question…

And it reminds me of this passage in…

Matthew 7:24–29 NLT

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

(NLT)

24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

One of the things that set Jesus apart… was the way He taught. Even his most severe enemies were blown away and often left speechless what He said and how He said it.

Jesus saying that whatever it is we chose to build our lives on… not around… but on… has a bigger impact on what we experience than we realize…

And I think His point is… there are so many things that people chose to build their lives on and around… not even bad things can be good things…

That were never intended to play that foundational role in our lives that Christ,His truth, and living out His truth is intended to play.

Jesus doesn't say IF… but when those storms come… and they will.

Jesus Himself promised us that in this life… we’d have trouble…

But the one thing… foundational thing… that holds it together through it all… is this rock solid… unwavering faith in Him. Through the highs and lows… the thick and thin… the success and failures… you’ll have them…

Down that line, I’ve always loved Heb. 11

It starts off by defining faith… and then goes on to give us this sort of hall of faith… these men and women who became known by having this deep life impacting faith…

Hebrews 11:1–3 (ESV)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

That word faith It has to do with something believed because it is found to be certain, trustworthy and dependable.

… Pistis…

Is used over 250 times in the NT.

The author of Hebrews says faith is two things…

1. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for

2. Conviction of things we can’t see

It's not wishful thinking or even reckless optimism… but it's grounded in deep belief and trust that what God says… even if it’s yet to be realized… will come to be.

This life altering conviction that impacts the way we think and live our lives… it leads to action.

This deep trust that God will do what He says in a way that impacts the way we think and live…

And I think it's an important question… do you operate with a growing sense of that sort of faith in your life…

The author of Heb. goes on to list or refer to 22 different people that were known by their faith… set apart by their faith… held out as examples…

And we learn a lot by looking at those examples.

Some were people who seemed to have it all together… and some that we’d question…

Rahab… unless her last name was actually… “the prostitute” we would have legit questions.

Sampson… was… rough.

And even King David… who was known as a man after God’s own heart… was a murder and adulator…

And I don’t know about you… but I am so thankful that God included broken men and women on this list of people who will be remembered for… having great, growing, and life changing faith. That despite their failures… are seen as men and women whose lives have been changed because of their great faith… in God’s eyes… they are seen as examples of faith…

Which I think points out a foundationally important choice that they had to make… and that we do too… that plays a larger role in our faith journey than we may realize…

Will I see myself and the world through the lens of what others think and say

Will I see myself through the lens of what I’m tempted to think and believe about myself which is heavily influenced by all kinds of lies that might be laced with small parts of truth…

Will I see myself and my life through the lense of God and the Gospel regardless of what others say or think… or regardless of what I’m tempted to believe about myself?

Will I… despite my struggle, hardship and failure… despite the storms of life… sometimes by my own doing… keep my eyes fixed on Him.

But we also need to understand that their “stuff” was not ignored by God either.

In some big, hard, and painful ways… they were confronted by it.

They were not disqualified from God’s love, His grace, or His Kingdom. But they were required to acknowledge…their stuff in a way that led to real sorrow… real repentance… and that allowed Him to change and direct them moving forward..

I think the point here is this…

Their faith in God anchored them through the darkest and most difficult parts of their lives in ways that propelled them into even greater faith

… greater certainty in God, greater trust, and greater dependance in Him.

Two ways we can hear this today…

Thankful that we are not disqualified… thankful for the way God uses even the ugly bits to form my faith and draw me toward greater trust and dependance.

Conviction of things we can’t see. on these examples… I think I can get away with some pretty serious stuff… that might even make God’s grace look even better…

Your heart… where your eyes are fixed in it… is huge.

So… where ever you are on the journey… know this…

From what I study…

You are not disqualified. You are not unusable. Your story is not finished.

Communion: Jamey

Pray