FAITH

Today I’m going to talk about faith.  But first I want to tell what kind of faith I’m talking about.  It’s the faith we have in God.  The faith we have in His Word.  The faith that trusts in God alone, faith that believes in what God said, that kind of faith.

I want to help us to understand that sometimes we’re not real clear on what faith is.

•    Faith isn’t what we think outside of God’s word.
•    Faith isn’t based on the things you were taught out side of the bible.
•    Faith is not a religion or a church.  It isn’t the Lutheran faith, Catholic faith, Christ’s Family Church faith, Word of faith Church. 

It’s all about having Faith in God and Jesus Christ and believing what His Word says.  It’s about putting into action what God says, it trusts Him over everything else, even when you can’t see it with your eyes.

(2 Corinthians 5:7) We live by faith, not by sight.  

(2 Kings 6:15-17) When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city.  “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked.  “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered.  “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.”  Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

So we can’t go by what we see.  We live by faith not sight.

So what is Faith?

(Hebrews 11:1) Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

The bible is an instruction manual to show us how to operate in faith.

Let me explain it like this, there’s a guy who goes out to buy a computer.  He’s never had one before and he has no idea how one operates.  We’ll call this guy...Rob.   It comes with a complete instruction manual to show you how setup and operate the computer properly.  But “Rob” being who he is figures he can figure it out for himself and doesn’t read the instructions.  He goes to start the computer and nothing works.  

So he goes and pulls out the instruction manual, reads it but figures it’s out dated and so he doesn’t believe them.  He makes a couple of adjustments on his own, but the computer still doesn’t compute.

At this point he either needs to read AND follow the instruction manual or call Scott Weber.

Some times we look at the Bible that way.  We read it, figure it’s out dated or that we can do it ourselves.  We think, “Boy I don’t know if I believe that, that doesn’t make any sense at all.  Times have changed and people just aren’t like that any more.  I’m not buying it.”  

So here it is; we have been created by God and we have an instruction manual, the Bible.  Trouble is we don’t follow it.  We don’t follow it because we either don’t believe it or we don’t want to follow its instructions.  This is why some want to rewrite the manual the bible, they don’t want to follow it.

It is going to require our believing what God said.  It is going to require us to trust God.  But it shouldn’t take faith for us to know what God says about every area of our lives.  You can see it.  Why because this is the instruction manual God wrote and He means what He says.

I’m going to give you an example, does God love us?

(John 3:16) For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Here is the instruction manual.  Who said this?  God did.  Yet we are not always convinced.  Why?  Because we either don’t know it or we don’t believe it.  It takes faith for us to believe it.

Where does faith come from?  

(Romans 10:16-18) But not all the Israelites accepted the good news.  For Isaiah says, ”Lord, who has believed our message?” Consequently faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. But I ask: did they not hear?  Of course they did:

So if they heard it, what was the problem?  The answered is in verse 16.  “But not all the Israelites accepted the good news.”  They heard it but didn’t believe it.

Faith in God changes everything. 

The more you read it (the Bible), the stronger your faith becomes.

How powerful is the Word of God?

Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?  (The Truth Project) Because if you did, wouldn’t you do it.

You have to believe God’s Word.  Remember we are called what?  Believers.  But remember believing is more than just knowing what God’s word say’s, its doing what it says.

My wife (Jean) and I sat down one night to talk about how we could improve our marriage.  We shared with one another the things we needed from each other.  Jean told me what she needed from me. So I being the bright bulb that I am, I thought I wonder if she was telling me the truth.  She must have meant something else when she said that.  She said Mike I need some romance in our marriage.  Romance, you got this.  

It’s the same with our relationship with God.  He tells us what He thinks, what He desires from us.  So if we don’t act on what He say’s we need to ask ourselves,  Do I really believe God or is it that I just don’t want to do what he says, because honestly, those are the only two options.  

I know that it’s not our desire to go against what God says but I myself have to ask the question, God, do I really believe you meant what you said.

So now maybe you’re asking yourself, “Do I even have faith?”  Well, here is a quick test and encouragement.

Do you believe there is a God?

• See Hebrews 11:6

However, this is just a place to start from.

The above notes are from Mike Schuler’s September 6, 2009 message.  To get a free CD of the complete message, contact Christ’s Family Church @ 651-437-2340.