Between Laughter And The Power Of Faith

Between Laughter and the Power of Faith

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” Hebrews 11:1-3

Intro: What would it take to shake your faith.

We are living in a time of confusion and chaos.

We need to remain strong and faithful and trust in God to develop our faith.

You may have been a Christian a long time or a short period of time.

What would it take to shake your faith in God?

Well, for some of you it may take a great deal…, before your faith could be shaken.

But for others, maybe it wouldn't take quite so much.

In fact, a whole lot of difficulty,

a whole lot of heartache,

and maybe you'd begin to say, "Well, God, where are You"?

And what you thought was an absolutely unshakable faith you may begin to question.

Well, there are a lot of things in this world that are being shaken up

and God is behind some of that shaking

and some of it He's not behind.

Some of it is of the devil, the deceiver, the false prophet, the author of confusion.

When it comes to shaking your faith

and attempting to shake your faith,

that certainly would not be of God.

But there are other things that are going on around us

that certainly are the result of God shaking up a sense of false security,

shaking us at the very core of our life,

at the core of our nation,

the core of this world.

Far too many Christians are settling for the ordinary, and the worldly

when you were redeemed for the extraordinary and divine.

We're settling for less than what God wants us to be.

And at the heart of this settling…, is the lack of faith.

Today, I want to talk to you about “The Power of Faith.”

Hebrews 11:1-3 begins

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Faith is described using three words: confidence, hope and assurance.

You all know how much I love Christmas.

Remember with me…, when you were very young and Christmas day drew closer.

You were excited and anxious.

You were confident you were going to receive gifts

And there would also be treats

But you also hoped there would also be a special surprise.

And as a child you had this assurance

that you were going to receive gifts and joyful things at Christmas.

So Christmas combines anticipation and assurance.

Just like faith does!

Based you past experience

You know what God has already done.

And you know he can do it again.

And there is often an added bonus or special blessing

that comes when you have faith and trust in God.

A few verses farther in Hebrews 11

We are introduced to a lady named Sarah,

Sarah is the wife of Abraham.

Hebrews chapter 11, verse 11, verses 11 and 12.

"By faith, even Sarah herself received the ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life".

"She considered him faithful who had promised;

therefore, there was born even of one man,

and him as good as dead,

at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number

and innumerable as the sand, which is by the seashore".

God had made a promise that he repeated five times in the book of Genesis,

from chapters 12 through chapters 21,

that Abraham and Sarah were going to have a baby

that would lead to the birth of a nation.

That's what God said.

That was the word that came from God.

That was the promise.

But the promise had a problem.

The problem was…, number one, Sarah was barren.

So she couldn't get pregnant.

But the promise was, "You are gonna have a baby".

But the problem was the ability to have a baby she didn't have.

So, the promise didn't match the problem,

and the problem didn't match the promise.

Not only are we told she was barren,

she didn't have the capacity to conceive, we're told that she was old…, 90 years old.

So, she even if she had the power to conceive, had long passed the timing of being able to conceive.

There is a promise…, but there are problems that contradict the promise.

I can't conceive. I'm too old.

So, I have to question the promise. (Her faith is being shaken)

Don't ever let the facts cancel out the faith.

Verse 11 says, by faith, she got the ability to conceive.

So, even though the facts are not in your favor, the facts, in fact, look contradictory to the faith.