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Foundational Faith Series
Contributed by Larry Hooks on Mar 14, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: How to activate your faith!
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A Faith that Works
Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
To believe is not to know, belive is to accept something without evidence. To believe is not to know, Paul says I know in whom I believe and I am persuaded and I*m fully convinced.
Chapter 11 has often been called The Hall of Faith and with good reason. For in this chapter the author(s) show(s) how Gods people in the past had endured hardship, pain, and death, and yet their faith kept them going.
It is perceived in my spirit that I feel that we need more faith, or that we lack enough faith to overcome the adversary. It seems that as soon as we make some progress, we fall back into this void, sad, complacent attitude that is not of God. I believe that through these series of sermon, God will attempt to strengthen our faith.
In this series we began this journey of a Faith that works, with the title, Foundational Faith.
When we use the word foundation, certain words come to mind such as the base, the groundwork, the underlying principle, and the beginning. God has given every person a measure of faith; therefore, we all have the possibility because of the foundational measure of faith, in which we can build upon and activate.
Foundational faith, is that faith that allows us to believe there is a God in heaven that orchestrates the affairs of this chaotic cosmos.
Foundational faith is our basic belief in God that allows us the opportunity to accept His Son, Jesus Christ, as our personal Savior.
Foundational faith is sufficient for getting our sins forgiven and receiving Heaven as our eternal home.
Foundational faith is the entry level for the believer into the Kingdom of God.
Families that are what God intended for them to be are STRONG in their devotion to and for each other within their family structure. This is not always easy to accomplish, and by no means does to develop by accident, or by chance. There MUST be faithfully pursued. In order to have, and maintain a STRONG family structure, there MUST continually be a spirit of genuine forgivenessan abundance of real love a willingness to understand a feeling of acceptance by others a desire to get along with others and by all means, there MUST be*a sincere respect for each other!
Romans 1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your Faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in faith: prove your own selves, Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
Colossians2:6-7 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him; rooted and built in the Faith, as ye have been taught.
1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of Faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
Roman 10:9 That if thou will shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. The verse is an example of what foundational Faith can do for us. Thank God for foundational faith. It allows us to access God the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ and all of the resources of Heaven.
But if we as children are going to experience the bountiful blessings that can be bestowed upon us as believers, we must move beyond foundational Faith. If we as Christians are going to experience the enrichment that we can be endowed with in our everyday lives by our heavenly Father. It is through activating our faith in God that we as believers leap over into the limitless living by accessing the favor of God.
3 basic principles:
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and not of our selves; it is a gift of God: We understand that we are saved by grace through faith
Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we discover, as believers, we are justified by faith
1 Peter 1:5 Who being kept by the power of Gods through faith, *We understand, as believers, we are kept by faith
The average Christian understands these basic provisions of faith. The problem is that many people seem to have is moving beyond these principals and getting a deeper understanding of faith and having a deeper relationship with God; whereby they receive the favor of God by obeying his word
As children of God we must not be satisfied because we have made it to the doorway of faith by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal savior, but move the the faith that allows you to develop and to trust his word. Jesus says that Im the way, truth and the life and no man can come to the father but by me;