Forward In Faith 1: Do You Have A Confident Faith? Series

Our theme for 2013 is Forward in Faith.

Let me ask you right at the start:

Do you want to move Forward in Faith?

Will you allow 2013 to be the year when you step out of your comfort zone - not just step out in faith but stay out of your comfort zone in faith?

Do you have the confidence in God to move forward in your faith – to move forward into what God has prepared for you?

Tonight I want to ask you

Do you have a confident faith?

Everyone in this world has faith in something.

That something may be physical or spiritual, tangible or intangible but everyone has faith.

When you sit down you have faith that the chair you are sitting on will not just vanish.

When you got in your car to come to church this evening you had faith that the car would start.

We have faith is something everyday, faith is a necessity of living in this world.

For us as Christians faith is the foundation of our relationship with God.

As Christians we must be confident that what the Bible says about God is true.

So what is faith?

Let me answer that with the first verse of Hebrews 11 - the same verse - 2 translations

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.

Hebrews 11:1 (The Message)

Hebrews eleven is often called The Faith Chapter or Faith’s Hall of Fame.

Hebrews 11 provides so many examples of people who had a confident faith in God.

People who, “by faith,” believed God.

Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Brak, Samson, David, Samuel.

They and many others who had a confident faith in God.

Do you have a confident faith in God?

There are people in this world that look at Christians and think we are stupid.

They accuse us of having a blind faith.

We cannot see God and yet we believe in Him.

Skeptics and Atheists say that they only believe in what they can see, but are they really looking?

Do they really want to understand that the truth is so much bigger than the lie they have believed?

Christians have faith in God,

we believe we have a soul,

we believe that what the Bible says about the reality of Heaven and Hell is true,

we believe in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We believe in what we can not see - we HAVE faith

The world may think we are the craziest people alive because we put our trust in a God we can’t see!

But we don’t call it trust, we call it faith!

It’s the confidence of things hoped for, the evidence of things we can not see!

God is our foundation and we have faith in Him.

In the natural world if someone tells us something we can choose to believe or disbelieve what they say.

And our choice may not be based on fact it may be based on our ‘gut feeling’ or trust.

If you choose to tell your children about Santa Claus - you have a choice to tell them something that is based on myth and fable or something grounded in truth.

Then when the revelation comes later on, the reality of your words are revealed.

Would you want your children to place faith in God in the same category as faith in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny?

Foundational truth is important.

Trust built on a lie fails.

Trust is very important in every relationship.

It does not matter if the act or words that caused mistrust were intentional or accidental.

If trust is broken it takes time to and effort to regain it.

Friend as a Christian, people should be able to trust you - to count on what you say is.

To understand that your words are true.

We need to Trust the Word of God is true.

We need to have faith that God has said what He has said.

Numbers 23:19 tells us,

God is not a man, so He does not lie.

He is not human, so He does not change His mind.

Has He ever spoken and failed to act?

Has He ever promised and not carried it through?

People may fail you, people may lie to you,

Friends have confidence - God will never lie to you.

God will never break His promises to you.

When God says He will act - He will act!