"Scandalous Faith"

Scandalous Faith

As we approach fall and the weather gets cooler...

It seems as though we're always wanting to know what the winter weather holds for us,

*Will the Willy Worms be dark or light?

*Will El Niño or la Niña affect us the way the weatherman say they will?

*Will the farmers almanac printed pages of faith hold true as in years before?

No one knows for sure…but there's one thing for sure

about the weather, it's constantly changing.

Illus. By Andrew Chan

There is a story that it was autumn...

and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild.

Since he was an Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets and When he looked at the sky, he couldn’t tell what the weather was going to be.

Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared.

Also, being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"

"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded.

So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.

A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Is it going to be a very cold winter?"

"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it’s definitely going to be a very cold winter."

The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find.

Two weeks later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"

"Absolutely," the man replied. "It’s going to be one of the coldest winters ever."

"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.

The weatherman replied, Because "The Indians are collecting wood like crazy."

I want to talk this morning about faith…

And how if you choose to believe

unlimited and unbelievable things can be and are accomplished in your life,

In the lives of your family and friends...your church and the kingdom of God.

Amen??

2 Samuel 7:22 NKJ

Therefore You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Romans 10:17NKJ

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

2 Corinthians 4:13 NKJ

And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,”[a] we also believe and therefore speak

Matthew 17:20 NKJ

20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief;[a] for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

So let's get this straight…

*We have heard that there is a God and that He is the one true God and there is no other God besides Him...

*Faith is instilled in us when we hear His word and when we hear His words we believe…

*and that spirit of faith even its just the size of a mustard seed...causes us to believe that we can speak it over our own situation and make it move...

*And realize that nothing is impossible with God!!

Scandalous...that's nothing but scandalous the world thinks in response when you tell them about faith.

But for someone..I said for someone who has experienced it firsthand and seen the results that it produces it's called a miracle. Amen??

So what keeps someone from experiencing their mountain from moving?

Jesus said in Matthew 17:20 "Because of your unbelief"

And I believe that right there alone is what the accuser uses to make the world think that it's so scandalous...and unbelievable.

Mark 9:23New King James Version (NKJV)

23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe,[a] all things are possible to him who believes.”

MSG. Says...23 Jesus said, “If? There are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen.”

Faith… Gives hope, that's what makes it so scandalous and attractive...just think of what would be possible if the whole world had hope and believed?

Today I want to share a story of "Scandalous Faith" from the Old Testament

about a man who heard about a God of anything is possible if you will only Believe...and the lengths that god is willing to go to...to meet your need when you do