Diving In
Glenn Newton 01-28-01
James 1:2-8 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance
must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If
any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding
fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt,
because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That
man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded
man, unstable in all he does.”
How many of you had a rough week this week? Everything just seemed to go the wrong
direction? Let me share a story I read this week, this guy had a rough week, I thought
maybe after hearing about his experience you might feel a little better.
read: “Man accidentally saws off hand, shoots nails into head”
I think we all had a better week than that guy.
You know what? I’m glad your here this morning! I want to share some thoughts
with you that really have encouraged me this week, and I hope they encourage you, I hope
they challenge you. God’s Word always seems to do those two things for me, it
encourages me, sometimes convicts me, but it always challenges me to action.
This morning I entitled my message, Diving In ....... and I want us to think about Faith,
What does God’s Word have to say about Faith, and do we have True Faith? Do I just
have a Religion, or do I have Faith? There’s a big difference. Were going to Dive In this
morning!
How many of you can remember that first time you climbed up on that diving
board, or whatever it was you were about to dive off of into the water, your knees were
rattling together, your first time diving head first into the water. Do any of you remember
vaguely that great event in your life? How many of you have never dove head first?
Something seized you as you stood there, in fact it was that same something that had kept
you from getting on that diving board for so long to begin with. This thing called FEAR.
It’s a paralyzer, it can immobilize us. In fact, it can keep us from diving head first, not
only into pools and rivers and such....... but this fear can keep us from diving in to LIFE, it
can keep us from Diving into our FAITH in Jesus Christ, it can keep us from really living
life the way God designed.
FEAR VS. FAITH, they just don’t work well together....... and we are going to look at
some Scripture this morning that will help reinforce that thought.
How many of you really want to just be able to Dive into Life and live it for all it’s worth?
Anybody like that? How many of you want to Dive into your Faith and let God be all that
He wants to be in your life? Any takers? I do on both of those, and I know God wants us
to.
So if we agree, that’s what we want, it sounds great, but somehow I never seem to get to
that level of living, it seems like there’s something holding me back.
This morning, before I share with you how we can move from where we are, to where
God wants to take us, I first want you to hear what God’s Word says about Faith, and
how we are to act in Faith, trusting God for the results. So listen to just a couple
passages, and apply these to your situation, to your life, ask yourself, is this true in my life
today?
First Hebrews 11:1 gives us a definition if you will for Faith, “ Now faith is being sure of
what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Our Hope is found in Jesus and what He has done for us, and also where He is
going to take us when we leave this old world. So our Faith is being Sure of what we
have in Christ, and being certain even though we can’t physically see it.
Faith is essential to the Christian Life, listen to John 6:28-29 “ Then they asked him,
"What must we do to do the works God requires?" JN 6:29 Jesus answered, "The
work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
That was a straitforward answer wasn’t it? What is it that God requires from us?
To believe in Christ. Period. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Do you
believe that He died for your sins? Do you believe that He rose from the Dead? Do you
believe that His Spirit now lives in you as a Christian, we call it the Holy Spirit?
If you truly Believe in Christ, then you must believe those things, and if you believe
those things, it will impact your life, those simple truths will change how you live, what
your priorities are. Faith in Christ transforms you. Amen? Has your life been
transformed?
Faith is commanded, James 2:17 tells us that ... “faith by itself, if not accompanied by
action, is dead.”
Folks, here’s the diving part, Not only do I believe in Christ intellectually, in my
mind, but I also must act, I must put my Faith into action. Jesus says to Love your
neighbor as yourself. I must put that into action, or what I say I believe is dead.
If I have Faith in Christ, I believe in Him, it’s going to show in my life, it’s going
to be evident. Listen to the words of Christ in Matthew 6 “"Therefore I tell you, do
not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you
will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than
clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in
barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable
than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What
shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father
knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all
these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
This morning this is one of the keys to how we can dive into life and live it for all
that it’s worth, and dive into our Faith and be all that God wants us to be....... Jesus tells
us not to Worry, but to Trust Him. And He also tells us what to do when we come to
those times when we are tempted to worry, when fear seizes our lives, what does He
instruct us to do?
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be
given to you as well.
You see Jesus has this figured out, that shouldn’t surprise us should it? He knows that If
we really trust Him, if we are putting our Faith in Him, then we will Seek Him when the
tough times come, we will go to him, we will act on our belief that He really is who He
says He is, and we will Run to Him and seek His Face.
You see, if you don’t really Trust God, or if your Faith isn’t where it should be,
then when tough times come, whatever that may be, if you don’t trust Him, if you don’t
truly believe in Him, your not going to go to him, your going to go somewhere else
looking for the answer, looking for a way to ease the fear.
Are you Trusting Him this morning? Is He the source of your strength when everything
else falls apart?
Jesus Christ is the one person you can count on. If you’ve ever tried to put this
Faith that is meant for God onto someone one else, then you have probably already know
that people will let you down, they are not supposed to be the source of your strength, no
man or woman can fill that spot designed for God.
Jesus is the one thing that you can count on being true, being Faithful. Jesus never fails.
We fail. Others will fail us. Many times our friends fail us. Your pastor will fail you in
someway, maybe not on purpose, but were human just like you. Jesus is the answer.
There’s only one way to remove the fear from our lives that keeps us from diving into life,
and that’s by putting our full trust and Faith in Christ and allowing His Spirit to fill our
lives.
Faith is indispensable in our Christian Life. If you haven’t figured this out yet, when you
become a Christian, you become the enemy of Satan, and he will do everything in his
power to destroy your faith, he would love nothing more than for you to give up, and turn
away from the one thing that can save you.
Listen to how Faith can shield you.
EPH 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full
armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our
struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of
evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything,
to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the
breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that
comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith,
with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”
The writer says, Be Strong in the Lord and in His mighty Power. My friends God
doesn’t want us as Christians to go through life cowering in the corner worried about the
next bad thing that might come my way, we are called BE STRONG, NOT IN OUR
OWN POWER, BUT “IN THE LORD AND IN HIS MIGHTY POWER.”
God has fitted you with His Armor, He wants to train you to be a mighty warrior
of Faith, He doesn’t leave you out to suffer and die a lonely death, He gives you
everything you need including His own power to overcome the evil one. Look at how
Faith works in this passage. “Take up the shield of faith, with which you can
extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”
Did somebody tell you that the Christian life was going to be easy? Whoever told you that
living a Christian life would be easy, next time you see them, go up to them and kick them
in the shin. If they ask you why you did that, just tell them, “I wanted you to know that
the Christian life isn’t easy, and sometimes it like getting kicked in the shins.” Think that
will work?
It’s not easy, but the fact is, YOU CAN WIN WITH FAITH, YOU CAN WIN WITH
TRUST IN HIM. YOU CAN WIN THIS BATTLE BY PERSEVERING AND
BUILDING CHARACTER, AND LETTING GOD MAKE YOU INTO THE GREAT
WARRIOR OF FAITH THAT HE WANTS YOU TO BE.
Remember our first passage, Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials
of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
All the trials and tribulations that you have went through, when you have Faith in God
and He’s at work in your life, those things will make you stronger and will develop
perseverance.
But, if you lack faith and Trust in God, and you go through trials and tribulations like we
all do, and always will, then those things will make you bitter, they will cause you to want
to blame someone else for your problems, and they will make you fearful of ever jumping
back into life. There’s only one way to get out of that, and that’s making a move, by Faith
towards God, and letting Him heal your hurts, letting Him become the Lord of your life,
He will transform your life. He has transforming power.
We must have this Faith in our personal lives or we won’t be able as a church to
demonstrate great Faith as a Body of believers. How can we have Faith That God wants
to do great things with New Hope when we don’t even have Faith that he is going to help
me in my personal life? There’s a connection.
Personal Challenge/Close
