Fruit Of The Spirit # 7

There are others who attend football games and you wonder why they are there. Probably it is:

• Because someone invited them to attend

• Because they were bored and had nothing better to do

• Because some like to be part of large crowd

Illus: Did you hear they have new postage stamps depicting the University of South Carolina football team? The post office recalled them because the fans couldn’t figure out which side to spit on.

But one thing we all agree on is that football players are not known for their academics.

Illus: A reporter asked the coach, "Is there any truth to the rumor that your new quarterback is dumb?"

• The coach replies, "Well, he makes straight A's."

• The reporter, suitably impressed, says, "Wonderful!"

• "But," says the coach, "his B's are kind of crooked."

Illus: I am told that college football players are assigned numbers to wear on their shirts based on their SAT scores.

Generally, there are the two groups of people you find at a football game:

• Those who are there because they love football

• Those who are there for other reasons

You find the same thing in church:

• There are those who are there because they love the Lord

• There are those who are there for different reasons

But it is always exciting to find people in church because they have personally come to know the Lord Jesus, and they believe in what this Bible teaches.

Illus: Two gentlemen were traveling on a plane and were seated next to each other.

• One turned to the other and asked, “What do you do?” The gentleman replied: "I am a minister."

• "Oh," said the first man. “I don’t believe in this religious stuff. It’s for kids, you know. ‘Jesus Loves Me This I know, for the Bible tells me so....’"

• The minister politely laughed and asked the other man what he did for a living. "I am an astronomer." The minister said, “Oh I don’t believe in that stuff. It’s for kids, you know, ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star...."

At the risk of sounding somewhat country, I want you to know I REALLY BELIEVE IN THE STUFF this Bible teaches! I literally eat, breathe and believe in this stuff! We call this belief in the Christian life FAITH. Either you have it or you do not!

HOW DO YOU RECEIVE FAITH? It is one of the fruits of the Spirit, and all the fruits of the Holy Spirit are given by the Holy Spirit. The more I allow the Holy Spirit to operate in my life, the more faith I will possess.

What is FAITH? Faith is a number of things. For example, there is -

I. SIMPLE FAITH

Faith is not wishful thinking. We all do a lot of wishful thinking!

Illus: A couple came upon a wishing well one day.

• The husband leaned over and made a wish and threw in a penny.

• The wife decided to make a wish, too! But she leaned over too far, fell into the well, and was yelling and screaming because she was all wet.

The husband was stunned for a while, but then smiled and said, "It really works!"

Illus: A wife went to the police station with her next-door neighbor to report that her husband was missing. The policeman asked for a description.

• She said, "He's 35 years old, 6 foot 4, has dark eyes, dark wavy hair, an athletic build, weighs 185 pounds, is soft-spoken, and is good to the children."

• The next-door neighbor was shocked by that description and said, "Your husband is 5 foot 4, chubby, has a big mouth, and is mean to your children."

The wife replied, "Yes, but who wants HIM back?"

Faith is not WISHFUL THINKING! What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Someone else put it in these words; FAITH is, “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Illus: My favorite preacher is Dr. Adrian Rogers. If I were to invite Dr. Rogers to come preach for me next Sunday, I MIGHT HOPE THAT HE WOULD COME. I MIGHT WISH HE WOULD COME.

But if I wrote him a letter and asked him if he would come, and he wrote back to me saying he would be honored to preach for me, then and only then, based on his promise, would I have faith that he would be here.

His promise would allow me to move from wishful thinking to faith. The bridge from wishful thinking to faith is the promise God has given us in His Word.

Here is faith in a nutshell: Faith is: