First Of Four Things That Will Change Your Life...faith Series

First of Four Things that Will Change Your Life…Faith

We are in a new year! There is just something exciting about a new year!

Maybe it is the anticipation of the unknown. Like a present, wrapped, waiting to be opened. It is full of surprise, of wonder, of thought.

What will this year bring?

Many times, the beginning of a new year brings about a desire for change…A hope of something better.

Often people make New Year’s Resolutions…This year I am going to… eat better, lose weight, exercise, work harder, get out of debt…

I am going to spend more time with my family, my children. I am going to be a better person.

These are all good things. We make resolutions to make ourselves better, and to make our relationships with others better.

Most of the time however, even though our intentions are good…we often fail. After starting off well, we don’t seem to finish what we started.

Yet, still there is something about the beginning of a new year that always brings hope of something different, of being able to start over.

How many things in our life would we change if we could start it all over?

Well, as much as we would like too we can’t change the past…but, we can change the outcome of our future.

I want to give you over the next few weeks…Four things that will change your life!

These four things have the power to change your entire life. Not just you personally but, that of your family, and those around you as well.

These four things can bring about anything you have ever dreamed of or hoped for, and yet may provide you with what you did not even know you were in need of.

These four things can change who you are.

It may sound like I am selling some old-fashioned tonic, or snake oil… some kind of bush medicine. But, no, that’s not it.

All four of these things are found in God’s Word.

So, if you want your life to be better, listen closely…and follow these things that God tells us in His Word.

If you are happy with who you are, and what you have become…well, you listen too.

God’s Word always has a way of helping even those that didn’t know they needed it.

The first of the four things that will change your life…Faith!

What is Faith?

-Definition of “faith”…

Heb 11:1 ¶ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Simply put, it is believing and trusting in something, or someone.

You put your faith in things everyday. When you go to turn on the light switch, you expect the light to come on.

(If it doesn’t something is wrong. The bulb is burned out, the fuse is bad, the light fixture is broke, or you didn’t pay your electric bill.)

When you turn on that switch, you have faith that it will come on…That it will work.

It is the same with your water. When you turn on the faucet…you expect water to come out.

Not only do you have faith that it will work, but you have faith that you will get what you expected to get.

The water faucet brings water. It doesn’t pour out gasoline, or diesel, or Coca-Cola. (Although that would be nice.)

Now, you believe that these things will work…even though you can’t see it, or understand it.

When you turn on the light switch, you can’t see the electricity go through the wires from the pole to the switch, to the light bulb. (If you can, I do not want you to do any wiring for me.)

I don’t understand how electricity works, how it flows through the wires. But, I know it does.

This is somewhat how faith is.

Faith is believing that God will do what He says He will do!

Gods Word…Believe it…Accept it…Expect it!

Why is faith so important?

Need for Faith…

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

“But without faith it is impossible to please him:…”

There is no pleasing God without faith.

In this verse we are given two things that are required of our faith…

1. “…believe that he is…”

You have to believe that God is who He says He is. (It would be hard to have faith in God, if you do not believe in God.)

And, not just that there is a God…but, that you have a personal relationship with Him through His Son…that you have been saved.

Salvation is first. Without having been saved how can you say that you believe Him?