Faith

Faith

Hebrews 11:1-3,7 Genesis 6:5-7

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A young boy was riding a bus home from Sunday School one Sunday afternoon very proud of a card he was given. It was a picture with a caption on it that read "Have Faith in God." As the bus was going down the road the picture flew out the window. The boy cried out to the driver "Stop the bus I’ve lost my faith in God!" The driver pulled over to let the boy retrieve his prize possession a rider made a remark about his innocence. A more obseverant adult said "We all should be more concerned about our faith." Are you concerned about your faith? Do others see your faith?

Faith should be consistent. It should not be fair weather. Faith should be strong even when it is not convient. Faith should be seen in our daily lives. When people see you they should see your faith. They should see your faithfulness when you walk, talk, and in your actions thru adversity. Adversities face each and every one of us. How we handle our troubles reflects our faithfulness in God. We all have troubles in our lives when our faith could be questioned. We need to pray that God will help us during these times. If you believe that God sent his son to die for our sins then you should believe that he will bring you thru whatever comes your way. Our faithfulness when seen can be a great witness for Christ.

What is faith? Well Timothy said in 2 Tim 1:12 " I know whom I have believed." Faith is a blind leap into the dark. To many unbelievers faith is a science. Faith is a devotion to God. Lets see what the book of Hebrews says about faith. (Heb.11: 1-3)

True faith is confidence in God. True faith is obedience to God’s word. Your faith will be tried. Charles Spuregon once said "If you want great faith then expect great trials. Faith is a common denominator in our lives. When we got up this morning we had faith that the light would come on when we flip the switch. When walk in a building we have faith in the construction crew and the engineers. The bible insists that we personally put our faith in Jesus. Acts 4:12 says "Nor is there any salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Hudson Taylor was a missionary of great faith. When he first went to China to do work for the Lord he went on a boat. The boat had got caught in a calm very close to a cannibal island. The boat was slowly drifting towards the cannibals a waiting feast. The captain came to Hudson asking for prayer. He replied that he would if only the captain set his sails to catch a breeze. The captain declined because he did not want to make a laughing stock of himself by setting sails in a calm. But Taylor was insistent on this. Reluctantly the captain set the sails. While Hudson was praying there was a knock at the door. The captain asked if he was still praying and of course he was. The captain told him to stop because they had more wind than they could handle. Hudson Taylor’s faith was strong enough to move a boat stuck in a calm.

Lets look at another man of faith stuck on a boat. Look at verse 7 in chapter 11 of Hebrews. "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith." Faith caused Noah to work for God. If you look in Genesis chapter 6 verses 5-7 you will see this a story of God’s saving grace. Noah was strong in faith, strong enough that God saved Noah and his family. Noah stood against the whole world. Have you ever felt maybe you stood by yourself on your faith? Noah built an ark because he believed in God. Every board he sawed screamed faith. Every swing of the hammer screamed faith. Does your work scream faith? Faith will make us work. For 120 years Noah was faithful planning and building the ark. 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. That’s nearly one and a half times the size of a football field. Awful hard to hide it from the ridicule and the laughter. Everyone was laughing at crazy old Noah. Can you imagine an ark of that size a hundred miles from the nearest ocean. People refused to believe Noah about the coming flood. Yet in his faith Noah kept on working. He kept on doing God’s work. Then in one of his greatest steps of faith he and his family stepped on the ark. Noah was a great man of faith and his life showed it. Does yours?