What We Do By Faith
I heard someone give an illustration once about a
wooden well bucket he came upon. He thought it was useless at first, because it
had been sitting next to a barn in the sun, unused for a long time. He could
see daylight between the wooden slats of the bucket. Certainly, this thing
would never hold water again. But an older man with him tied the bucket to the
well rope and let it drop into the water below. In a couple of days they came
back and turned the crank to draw the bucket back up. It was full of clear,
cool well water and was not leaking a drop. The water had re-hydrated the
wooden slats until they fit together as originally designed, and the bucket was
useful again.
Faith is that intangible that rehydrates the slats
of our Christian Bucket. It is not the things that will happen in our futures
that define us. It rains on the just and the unjust alike. But it is how we
face the trials that come our way. It is who we lean on to get through the
storms that define us. Faith is trusting that God will walk with us as we face
those trials. I don’t have faith that God will or will not cure my
diabetes. But I know for a fact that He
has walked with me as I have daily battled this terrible disease. I don’t have
faith that God will prevent any bad thing from afflicting me. But I have bullet
proof faith that God will walk with me through anything that comes.
It is by faith that ….
Matthew 8:5-13 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him,
asking for help. 6
"Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering
terribly." 7 Jesus said to
him, "Shall I come and heal him?"
8 The centurion replied,
"Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the
word, and my servant will be healed. 9
For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one,
'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do
this,' and he does it." 10
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel
with such great faith. 11
I say to you that many will come from the east and
the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
in the kingdom of heaven. 12
But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown
outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth." 13 Then
Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! Let it be
done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at
that moment.
I.
We Live By Faith
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ
lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave himself for me.(NIV)
a.
Jesus died for me. My name was on His mind as he
defeated sin and the grave on that cross at Calvary.
b.
Not only that but YOU were on Jesus mind as He
defeated sin and the grave for YOU!
"Jesus On My Mind" (B.J.Thomas)
I see dark clouds coming my way
I know they're gonna try to rain on me
They're almost here but I must say
I'm just as happy as can be
Just because I've got Jesus on my mind
Just because I've got Jesus on my mind
The situation might look so awful grim
But that's when I just stop and get my mind on Him.
Before you know it
Everything's just fine because I've got Jesus on
my mind
I see a giant right in my path
I know he's gonna try to do me in
He's mighty big. But I must say
I'm not the least bit afraid of him
Just because I've got Jesus on my mind
Just because I've got Jesus on my mind
The situation might look so awful grim
But that's when I just stop and get my mind on Him.
Before you know it
Everything's just fine
Just because I've got Jesus on my mind
… We live by Faith
II.
We Stand By Faith
2 Corinthians 1:24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for
your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm. (NIV)
To be worth anything, character
must be capable of standing firm upon its feet in the world of daily work,
temptation and trial; and able to bear the wear and tear of actual life.
Cloistered virtues do not count for much."
In VBS this week we learned that the taller
the building, the stronger the foundation!
Matthew 7:24-27 "Therefore everyone who
hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who
built his house on the rock. 25
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds
blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its
foundation on the rock. 26
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does
not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
27 The
rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that
house, and it fell with a great crash."
a.
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to simply
STAND and trust God to be God!
The wise man built his house on a firm
foundation and it withstood the storm … the foolish man built his house on the sand,
the weak foundation and the storms of life washed it away!
We LIVE by Faith
We STAND by Faith
III.
We Walk By Faith
2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight:( KJV)
a. We DO NOT know what
the future holds.
The day before I went to the hospital for open
heart surgery I preached a sermon titled … “I don’t know what the future holds
but I know WHO holds my future”
It goes back to Paul’s question… I don’t
know which is better to go be with the Lord in Heaven or stay and point others
toward Heaven!
We LIVE by Faith
We STAND by Faith
We Walk By Faith
IV.
We Endure By Faith
Hebrews 11:24-27 By faith Moses,
when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
25 He chose to be mistreated
along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of
sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for
the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he
was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By
faith he left Egypt, not fearing the
king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
Paul COMPLAINED TO THE Lord about
his thorn in the flesh. God said, “My grace is sufficient for you.
We LIVE by Faith
We STAND by Faith
We Walk By Faith
We Endure By Faith
V.
We Subdue By Faith
GOD "SUBDUES" OUR SINS
The word "subdue" is such a powerful word. In the Hebrew, it is the
word "kabash" (kaw-bash) meaning to "tread down, disregard,
conquer, bring into subjection". The Hebrew word for "cast" is
"shalak" (shaw-lak) which means "to hurl, to throw away".
What an amazing assurance! When we ask God to forgive us, He takes whatever
sin, whatever iniquity, we are bringing with us to present before him, He takes
those things, conquers them for us and brings them into subjection, then He
throws them away into the depths of the sea never to remember them anymore!
Amen somebody! Now that is something to get up and shout about! God throws our
sins away as trash! So stop plucking! Stop trash-picking! Stop dumpster-diving!
Stop going back to the trash!
Hebrews
11:28-34 By faith
he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the
firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. 29 By faith
the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians
tried to do so, they were drowned. 30
By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after
the army had marched around them for seven days. 31
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because
she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. 32 And what more shall I say? I do not have
time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel
and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered
kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the
mouths of lions,
34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the
sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle
and routed foreign armies.
The HEROES of FAITH listed in Hebrews
Chapter 11 all won their victories by FAITH.
The toughest battles that we all fight is
the battle of who sits on the throne of our lives. Who is the Lord of your
life?
We LIVE by Faith
We STAND by Faith
We Walk By Faith
We Endure By Faith
We Subdue By Faith
VI.
We Fight By Faith
1 Timothy
6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take
hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good
confession in the presence of many witnesses.
A young man enlisted, and was
sent to his regiment. The first night he was in the barracks with about fifteen
other young men, who passed the time playing cards and gambling. Before
retiring, he fell on his knees and prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer
at him and throw boots at him. So it went on the next night and the next, and
finally the young man went and told the chaplain what had taken place, and
asked what he should do. "Well," said the chaplain, "you are not
at home now, and the other men have just as much right to the barracks as you
have. It makes them mad to hear you pray, and the Lord will hear you just as
well if you say your prayers in bed and don't provoke them." For weeks
after the chaplain did not see the young man again, but one day he met him, and
asked, "By the way, did you take my advice?" "I did, for two or
three nights." "How did it work?" "Well," said the
young man, "I felt like a whipped hound and the third night I got out of
bed, knelt down and prayed." "Well," asked the chaplain,
"How did that work?" The young soldier answered: "We have a
prayer meeting there now every night, and three have been converted, and we are
praying for the rest." Oh, friends, I am so tired of weak Christianity.
Let us be out and out for Christ; let us give no uncertain sound. If the world
wants to call us fools, let them to it. It is only a little while; the crowning
day is coming. Thank God for the privilege we have of confessing Christ.
a. I don’t
believe that today’s church has any resemblance to the church that Christ died
for.
b. We don’t
fight battles anymore… these days the church runs from conflict with the world,
with Satan and his forces.
c.
Here is the picture of who God expects us to be.
1 Peter 5:7-10 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the
devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith,
because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is
undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 10
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after
you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong,
firm and steadfast.
d. Does
that describe us? For us suffering is when the air conditioning doesn’t work …
or when there is only one type of Banana Pudding on the desert table at the
covered Dish meal!
We LIVE by Faith
We STAND by Faith
We Walk By Faith
We Endure By Faith
We Subdue By Faith
We Fight By Faith
VII.
We Overcome By Faith
1 John 5:4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory
that has overcome the world, even our faith. (NIV)
What do the overcomers (the ones
who defy gravity) of this world get according to Scripture?
Revelation 2:7: He who has an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to
eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
b. Revelation 2:11 He who has an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by
the second death.
c. Revelation 2:17 He who has an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the
hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written
on it, known only to him who receives it.
d. Revelation 2:26 To him who overcomes and
does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—
e. Revelation 3:5 He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed
in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will
acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.
f. Revelation 3:12 Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the
temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of
my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming
down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.
g. Revelation 3:21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit
with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his
throne.
h. Revelation 21:7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I
will be his God and he will be my son.
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