Faith

o Biblical faith is a confident trust in the eternal God who is all-powerful, infinitely wise, eternally trustworthy – and God who has revealed Himself in his word and in the person of Jesus Christ, whose promises have proven true from generation to generation and who will never leave nor forsake his own’

o Faith is the basis of everything we do

? We are saved by grace, through faith

? We come into salvation through faith

o Faith is a gift from God

? Everyone has a measure of faith that has been given by God

• Romans 12:3-8

• Why do I need faith?

• We first must believe God is real

? In our post Christian, post modern world, it is, at time, difficult to believe God is real

• We must have confidence that He is real

• We can say with our mouths that He is real, but does your life reflect this truth?

o There is a reality of Christian atheists

? Those who profess Christ, but their life does not reflect the faith the claim

? Cultural Christianity

• Just because you grew up and live in this nation does not make you a Christian

o Faith that God created the world from nothing

? Remember that our faith isn’t grounded in imaginary, wishful thinking, but in the evidence that is presented

• Never has there been a time when something came from nothing

o Everything produces from its own kind

o Life does not come from nothing and a tree doesn’t fall down and make a house

o Faith is how we please God

? A belief that trusts in what He says and obeys all He said is pleasing to Him

? To love God is to trust Him; to trust Him is to obey Him

• 1 Cor 13:7 “Love always…trusts”

o We cannot say we love God and not do what He says

? A reckless faith is what God is looking for

• God is the God of the impossible

o He wants His people to believe the impossible

? God wants action steps to our faith

• Saying we believe God, but not moving is not pleasing

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• Abram was called from his home and sent to a place He did not know

o He was promised that God was going to make him a father of a nation and ALL nations were going to be blessed through him

o He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness

? He did not see the realization of that promise, but still stayed the course and believed God

• Peter walked on water (only 2 people in Scripture ever did that)

o He had enough faith to step out of the boat

• What are the enemies of faith?

o Fear

? Fear is the opposite of faith

• Fear convinces us that God did not say what He said, or meant what He said

• We reason with our fear and allow ourselves to settle for less

• There are times when God calls us to do something that scares you

o If you aren’t scared of what you say God called you to do, then it probably isn’t God telling you to do

? God will always give you dreams and visions larger than yourself because you need to lean into Him

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• How to build your faith?

o Romans 10:17 “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the Word of Christ”

? The NIV added the word ‘message’, the original did not have it

• It reads “Consequently, faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ”

? Hearing is exactly what we think it is

• With our ears (spiritually and physically)

o We are able and should be hearing from God everyday

? He speaks ALL the time, we just don’t listen all the time

? Word – Rhema – the spoken word of God

• Men will not live by bread alone, but by every word (rhema) that comes out of the mouth of God

o Step out into what you are afraid of

? Best advice I ever got was if I was afraid to do what God has told me to do, do it anyway, and the fear will soon disappear

? Fear in itself is not wrong

• We are human, and we will get afraid from time to time

o Jesus and Paul were afraid

• It becomes wrong when we allow fear to govern our life