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!
Don’t make a promise you don’t intend to keep.
I’m not talking about stuff you were going to do but something got in the way.
I’m talking about stuff you say you will do when you have no intention of doing it.
Your broken promises don’t bring glory to God.
And broken promises damage your witness and break friendships.
If someone asks you to do something for them, you may say you will “try” to do it.
Many people say, “I’ll try” when they really mean they won’t but they don’t want to say “no”.
When God makes a promise He does it, when God He will - He will.
And God does not need to try - all things are possible for Him.
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It is really important we grasp what the Bible teaches about faith.
The word faith is never plural.
Our Christian faith does not mean we can pick and choose the aspects of God we are happy believing in.
We can’t pick and choose the easy bits of God’s Word to believe and skim over or ignore the rest.
We can’t pick bits from the bible, and philosophies from world religions and the “wisdom” of the modern secular world then lump it all together and call it faith.
Real faith is having single, certain, unmoveable, unshakeable confidence that the Bible is the Word of God.
Real confident faith is more than lip service.
It is more than an outward appearance of faith.
It is more than going to church for a couple of hours on a Sunday,
Real confident faith is believing that God the creator of this universe, loves you and cares for you and has a plan for you.
Real confident faith is believing that when Jesus said “He is the way the truth and the life” that His words were true.
Real confident faith - Real Christian Faith -
Real Biblical Faith - Real Saving Faith -
is only found in trusting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Do you have a real confident faith in Jesus?
Saving faith in Jesus Christ has three parts.
First there needs to be a understanding of who Jesus was and is.
The historic fact, that the Son of God came,
Born into this world, He lived, He died on the Cross, He rose again, He is alive today!
This is the gospel! But knowledge of historic fact is not enough.
The second part requires trust in Christ.
We may be convinced that historic facts about Christ are true.
But we must also believe that Jesus is able to do what He said he could do – forgive our sins and guarantee us eternal life!
Knowledge is not enough, neither is trust,
the third part is commitment to Christ.
By commitment I mean whole-hearted committed faith in Jesus Christ.
In John’s Gospel, in John 1:12 the Bible says, “But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12).
You must believe in, Jesus Christ.
You must have faith in Jesus.
That belief, that faith brings change.
That belief, that faith brings salvation.
Salvation begins with knowledge of the Saviour requires trust in the Saviour, and Commitment to the Saviour.
Acts 16:31 says it clearly: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”
When we put our trust, when we put our hope,
when we put our faith in Jesus for salvation,
then we pass from spiritual death to spiritual life.
Do you have a confident faith?
Are you willing to move Forward in Faith?
You cannot spend this year sitting back and hoping something good might happen.
This is a year for participants not passengers.
2013 is the year for you to move forward in faith.
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
***** Communion *****
Tonight, we have hope, we have confidence,
we have faith in things we cannot see.
We have not seen Heaven, but through faith we know it exists.
We know we will be there because we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus has paid the price for our sin.
He died that we could have eternal life.
He rose and conquered the power of sin and death.
He did it for those who would have faith in Him. **
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 in The Message says:
Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord’s Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said,
This is my body, broken for you.
Do this to remember me.
After supper, he did the same thing with the cup:
This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you.
Each time you drink this cup, remember me.
What you must solemnly realise is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.
(1 Corinthians 11:23-26, The Message)
