A Matter of Faith
January 10, 2010 Morning Service
Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK
Rick Boyne
Message Point: We must have faith to be saved.
Focus Passage: Matthew 8:5-13
Introduction: The following letter was found in a baking-power can wired to the handle of an old pump that offered the only hope of drinking water on a very long and seldom-used trail across Nevada's Amargosa Desert: "This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new sucker washer into it and it ought to last five years. But the washer dries out and the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun and cork end up. There's enough water in it to prime the pump, but not if you drink some first. Pour about one-fourth and let her soak to wet the leather. Then pour in the rest medium fast and pump like crazy. You'll git water. The well has never run dry. Have faith. When you git watered up, fill the bottle and put it back like you found it for the next feller. (signed) Desert Pete. P.S. Don't go drinking the water first. Prime the pump with it and you'll git all you can hold."
I. Faith in Something unseen
a. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
b. Saints of old gained approval - Gen 15:6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
c. People of today gain salvation (Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God
II. Faith was complete
a. Mark 9:24 “Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief."
b. Abraham took Isaac to sacrifice because he had faith that God could raise from the dead.
c. The widow put in her last two cents.
III. Faith in the authority of Jesus
a. I John 4:4 “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.
b. Story of ship’s captain vs the lighthouse.
Invitation: Jesus this morning is calling for us to alter our course. He is calling for us to submit to His authority and place our complete faith in Him. He is saying if you trusted me to save you from hell then trust me to lead you and take care of you. Walk with me and not against me. What about you? Is your faith completely in Jesus? Are you submitting your life completely to Jesus? If not then do so today.
