Pt 5 - Biblical Faith Series

FAITH

PART 5 – Biblical Faith

First Baptist Church of Tawas City Michigan

Rev. Bruce A. Shields – 11-27-2005

www.tawasbaptist.org

WELCOME

• Visitors (Visitor Cards & Prayer Request Cards in pews)

• The Teen Youth will be having a special offering at the end of the service today to help raise money for the Christmas Drive this year for single mothers. Also, the 4 ½ pound one of a kind chocolate snowman is downstairs, put your donations with your name into the can and whoever donates the most for the Teen Youth Group will receive the snowman.

• If someone feels lead to head up the 12 and under group please see me so we can get that started as well.

PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT

Genesis 6:6-13

“The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

9 This is the account of Noah.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.”

Some of the roadblocks to our faith that we’ve talked about include unforgiveness, not reading God’s word, and not being thankful.

This week I want to talk about Biblical Faith, what the bible says it is and the different levels of it.

The New Testament as many of you already know was originally written in Greek.

The Greek word for faith in the Bible is “pistis”, which simply meant trust.

I believe there are 5 steps to having the faith that can move mountains.

With each of these steps you can usher in the next, and thus your faith will grow and with greater faith you can better serve the Lord.

Hebrews 11:6

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

The first step in faith is simple, you must believe that He is.

The scripture say that faith comes by hearing the word of God.

But when you hear it, you must believe it as well.

For you to have faith, you must believe what God is saying to you.

God speaks to us today, regardless of what people may say.

I believe the Word of God over scholars, teachers, preachers and the like.

Do you remember the series we had on hearing from God and the 5 or 6 ways the scripture says He speaks to us?

We must believe what God is telling us either through His Holy Word, or His Holy Spirit.

Here is an example from the scriptures;

Noah is sitting there minding his own business, and God tells him;

“Noah, I’m going to destroy every living thing with a flood. So I want you to build an ark to preserve yourself, your family and some animals.”

Now, Noah had never seen a flood. But He knew God.

He recognized God’s voice. This can only happen if you have a relationship with God.

If you go on vacation, and call home, do you have to tell your spouse who you are when they answer the phone? No.

If you do, perhaps you and your spouse need to spend a little more time talking together.

No, you don’t have to tell them who you are. Why, because they know your voice from spending so much time with you.

This is how it is supposed to be with God.

God is speaking to each one of us everyday, but most of us don’t hear Him because we don’t know Him.

His voice is lost among the daily tasks and hustle of the day.

His still and quiet Holy Spirit is buried beneath the sounds of the kids, or the radio or TV, as He patiently tries to reach us.

He even speaks to those who don’t belong to Him, He says to their heart “Come to me.” Remember it is God’s will that ALL be saved.

And we see that when Noah preached the flood during the years it took to build the Ark.