Having Faith In A Savior

WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH

PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN

SERMON TITLE: HAVING FAITH IN A SAVIOR

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world: but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John

TEXT VERSE: Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Paul the same man who was once called Saul of Tarsus that used to kill Christians, now stands and says he can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth him. He had a lot of confidence in that verse. Think about what he said. He said I can do ALL things. He didn’t say I can do SOME things or a FEW things. he said I can do ALL things. What’s wrong with a lot of Baptist folks is they say I don’t know if we ought to do that. I don’t know if we have the finances to do that. I don’t know if we have enough people to do that. I have news for you tonight, Paul said, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Let me tell you what confidence will do for you tonight. Whether or not you get to do anything for God or not, just having the confidence that God and that you can do all things, it will empower you. The world is always telling us that we can’t do this and we can’t do that. But we need to be more like Paul. Paul had to have a lot of trust in the savior to make that statement. He had to have a lot of confidence in his Lord and Savior. So I want to preach to you or teach to you on having faith in a Savior. Let me tell you what I mean by that. When you realize that you can’t do anything and God can do all things, that’s when you can put your confidence in him. The times when we try to do things on our own, we end up faltering or failing. All of a sudden we think it was God‘s fault when truly it was our fault. God has not shorted us but we‘ve shorted God. Any time the Bible says that they that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh. But they that are after the spirit mind the things of the Spirit. Then the Bible goes on to say that those that to be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. I saw three things in Romans 8 that I‘ve never seen before. I‘ll share it with you. #1 the Bible says that carnal mind is death. And it also said that the body is dead. And then it said that the flesh will bring death. But in all three of those verses it said that the spirit giveth life. If you try to please God in the flesh...it will never happen. You have to be in the will of God in the center of God’s will....then and only then can you please God. Paul had to be in the spirit when he said what he said. The flesh wouldn’t say they could do all things through Christ. I don’t believe he was talking about singing or playing the piano. I believe he was talking about going out and sharing the gospel. If you’re saved by the grace of God tonight, you ought to have a little confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. You ought to have a positive attitude and not a negative one. We’re living in a world full of Christians that are living in the negative mode all the time. My daddy used to tell me that “can’t never could do anything.” If you don’t think you can do anything for God, you never will.

Paul said this in First Timothy 4:12 “...Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” He didn’t say be an example to the non believers.

There’s a lot of people that get in that negative mode. I just can’t do anything. I don’t know why the Lord saved me or sent me here. When they get in the negative mode they try to get you in the negative mode. They’ll say, you ought not do that. You can’t be doing that. Paul said, I can do all things through Christ....Just believing that you can is enough. One thing that will kill what you’re trying to do for the Lord is.....