HAVE YOU KEPT THE FAITH? (2Timothy 4:6-8) MAY 20,2001AM George Crumbly
Sheridan Arkansas
(Turn to Hebrews Chapter 11)
INTRODUCTION:
It’s so good to get the District Assembly behind us….Had a great day of Pastor Reports this past Thursday, they were all upbeat & encouraging……
The text today we have one of the great men of God, the Apostle Paul. But the scripture I want to read first is Hebrews 11, this chapter is known as “God’s Great Hall of Fame.”
Men & Women who have believed God down thru the centuries are here listed as being great men & women of God.
(There are people in the church today that do not think of themselves as being anything for God because of maybe they can’t give much or maybe they aren’t educated)
The key to GREATNESS with God? Faith…..We’re not going to be judged according to our greatness, but according to whether we were Faithful or not!! People today are trying to be great in mans eye, but what matters more than anything else? Is what God thinks!! The key to being great in God’s eye is Faith….
Hebrews 11: verses 1-6
* What does faith mean? This is the only time in the Bible that Faith is defined. There are several commentaries that give meaning to Faith:
verse 1: “now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
* So Faith means today: “the substance, the actual possession of things hoped for, the evidence and reality of things not seen.” It is both an act and a possession of the thing believed. We may not be able to see it, but it is real and existing & we can possess it by believing and having faith in it…..We can possess it NOW—we cannot see it, but we can actually possess the very substance of it by believing & entrusting our lives to it…………
• FAITH is trusting & possessing all that God is & says….
• FAITH is believing & possessing all that God is & says…
• FAITH is having confidence in & possessing all that God is & says…
• FAITH is hoping for something & possessing it because God is & has promised it...
Look at what Biblical Faith is not:
“I think so, or I hope so.” “It may be so; it may not be so.” “It might be true; it might not be true.”
Biblical Faith does not deal with what is unreal, imaginary, fanciful, visionary, superficial, or deceptive…. It is the Knowledge, Experience, & Possession of things hoped for. True Biblical Faith deals only with truth & reality….
( Turn to II Timothy 4: verses 6-8 ) *******************************************
The Apostle Paul was a great man of Faith……He gave his all to please God! (ask yourself this AM: Is my life pleasing God?)
“ But without faith it is impossible to please him:” (Hebrews 11:6)
I don’t know what you are doing this morning to please God, whatever it is if it is WITHOUT faith…….you are unable to please Him…..
(verses 6-8 read)
Paul’s death was an offering!! How many of would be able to say as Paul did: “I am now ready.”
The Lord gave me this scripture & message Tuesday as I headed to Dewitt early that morning.
ILLUSTRATION:
My daughter had flew to California and was suppose to be back Sunday afternoon, I hung around the house all afternoon waiting to hear from her, well her ticket was to fly out Monday she was unable to change the ticket so I waited to hear from her all day Monday (she had layover in Las Vegas but was unable to get off the plane)…Well I started worrying which Tuesday I asked the Lord to forgive me for replacing faith & trust with worrying.
The Lord gave me this message about Paul, the meat of the message today is in verses 7:
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”
Not a one of us today has finished the course…. Are you fighting a good fight? Most important have you KEPT THE FAITH?? I don’t have any idea when my departure may be…
Matthew Henry says: “Observe…with what pleasure Paul speaks of dying. He calls it his departure: though it is probable that he foresaw he must die a violent bloody death, yet he calls it his departure, or his release. Death to a good man is his release from the imprisonment of this world & his departure to the enjoyments of another world: he does not cease to be, but is only removed from one world to another.”
Paul had run & finished the course of his life. He completed the race of life just like an athlete runs & finishes the course of his race.
This is POWERFUL because he is saying that he disciplined & controlled his life to the utmost……..Can you say this morning that the way you are living your life is pleasing to God?
This morning, Paul had kept the Faith……As you are running this race are you keeping the Faith?? The days in which we are living are getting worse, (the Bible says that the days we are living in are getting worse) So I believe that as Christians you & I are going to have to have the same faith that Paul has here….
We live in a world where folks are getting out of the church, going back into the world. A place where there are churches that are teaching that you can go back into the world & yet still go to Heaven when you die!
God has entrusted you & me to take this church and be a church that is pleasing to Him. The Lord never said that the course in which we run was going to be easy or simple or short…..He just said that he would not leave us nor forsake us & that He would be with us all the way to the end!!
Today, we must have Trust, we must have Confidence, and we must have Faith in the fact that whatever our course takes us that we will always KEEP the FAITH…..
ALTAR
We have a lot of work yet to do before Jesus & for the Kingdom. Our course has been set here in Sheridan Arkansas. We don’t know what may come our way…It may be rough, it may be rocky, it may be tragic regardless know this: GOD IS WITH US and the most important thing you & I can do today:
We Must Keep The Faith!!!!!!!!!!!
