Faith Comes By Hearing

A couple of months ago, I was contacted by a ministry called ¡§Faith comes by hearing¡¨. This ministry produces audio versions of the Bible on tape and CD. Each of you should have received in your bulletin a card listing the different audio options that are available. Think about the opportunity for a minute. Every morning, when you¡¦re in your car, instead of listening to a talk show, the news or music that may or may not be honoring to the Lord, you can be listening to the Bible. Or as you put your children to sleep at night ¡V instead of playing them a lullaby or leaving the TV on so that they can get to sleep, put a tape or CD into the player for them to listen to. The options are endless. I¡¦m not suggesting that you listen exclusively to the Bible in your car or wherever you would normally listen to the radio although that would not be a bad idea. I am suggesting that you be willing to listen to the Bible for 19 minutes a day for 60 days beginning Sunday, January 26. If you follow that plan consistently, you will have listened to the entire New Testament before Easter Sunday. This is something that I would like for the entire church to participate in ¡V adults, children, everyone. Some of you may already have a NT on tape or CD. If you do, just use that one. You don¡¦t need a new one. At the conclusion of the message today, I¡¦m going to ask you to make a decision to join me in committing your family to spending 19 minutes a day listening to the truth of the Bible.

But why should you? What will it do for you?

Step #3 ¡V Persuasion by the Word ¡§faith¡¨

1. Building faith is possible.

Paul could make this claim about hearing producing faith because he had seen it happen so many times as people listened to him proclaim the message (talk about different cities that Paul had gone to and the results that he saw). Paul himself had been radically changed through the hearing of the message.

„X Faith to believe in Jesus. This was the message that Paul first proclaimed so that people could hear (vs. 9-10).

Ramad was an Indian man who was a member of a gang of robbers. On one occasion, while burglarizing a house, Ramad noticed a small black book containing very thin pages just right for making cigarettes. So he took it. Each evening he tore out a page rolled it around some tobacco and had a smoke. Noticing that the small words on the pages were in his language, he began to read them before rolling his cigarettes. One evening after reading a page, he knelt on the ground and asked the Lord Jesus to forgive his sins and to save him. He then turned himself in to the police, much to their amazement. Ramad the bandit became a follower of Jesus Christ. And in the prison where he served his sentence for his crimes, he led many others to the Savior. The Word of God became to Ramad "the power of God to salvation." Romans 1:17-18 - Peter V. Deison, in his book The Priority of Knowing God

Many years ago, something unusual happened in a Moscow theater that illustrates the convicting and transforming power of the Bible. Matinee idol, Alexander Rostovzev was converted while playing the role of Jesus in a sacrilegious play entitled, ¡§Christ In A Tuxedo.¡¨ He was supposed to read two verses from the Sermon of the Mount, remove his gown, and cry out, ¡§Give me my tuxedo and top hat!¡¨ But as he read the words, ¡§Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted...¡¨ He began to tremble. Instead of following the script, he kept reading from Matthew 5, ignoring the coughs, calls, and foot stomping of his fellow actors. Finally, recalling a verse he had learned in his childhood in church, he cried, ¡§Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.¡¨ Before the curtain could be lowered, Rostovzev had prayed to receive Christ as his personal Savior. - Why Christians Sin, J. K. Johnston, Discovery House, 1992, p. 121