When Our Faith Fails Part 1 Series

When Our Faith Fail

Scripture: Hebrews 11:6; James 2:14; 26; Acts 8:18-19; 1 Peter 2:24

Introduction:

I am starting this series with some trepidation as to how to deliver all of the information that is within my spirit in such a way that it will be received clearly by each of you and those who may read this message via email. This sermon series is titled “When Our Faith Fail” and I promise you that I will try to be sensitive “somewhat” to your sacred cows as it pertains to some of your beliefs. That being said, I will challenge some of those beliefs during this series. As you may already realize, many of our beliefs are based on our understanding (or lack thereof) of Scripture. In addition to Scripture, there are beliefs that we have based on how others have interpreted Scriptures. Then there are beliefs that we have that are based on what we choose to believe because those beliefs make us feel better about our situations. In this series I will touch on each of these belief sources and how they impact our faith. In this series I truly want us to evaluate and understand that when our faith fail there is a reason and that reason is not God! It could be due to our beliefs; our actions; or what we were believing for went against God’s word, will and/or direction for our life? At the conclusion of this series I hope that we will walk away understanding how our beliefs impact our faith and ultimately how our actions and results are based on the combination of our faith and the beliefs we attach to it. So that being said, let me remind you of the importance of faith in our life. Hebrews 11:6 states “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Every thing that we do is through faith. We have not seen God face to face nor have we met Jesus Christ in physical form, yet we believe that God exists and Jesus lives and this is by faith. We cannot serve nor please God without faith. I want you to consider this Scriptures as I share these two scenarios with you that speak to a person’s faith and how what they currently believe about God is impacting their faith.

1. God gave me this illness so that I could focus more on Him. There is a pastor currently in the hospital who believes God gave him the illness. How does this belief relate to Hebrews 11:6?

2. God allowed the terrorists to attack the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001 to punish the America and He caused hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans. Many believe that the terrorist attack and hurricane Katrina were acts of God to punish America and New Orleans. How does this belief relate to Hebrews 11:6?

These are just two examples of beliefs that people have that destroy their faith in God and actually contradict what the Bible actually teaches. We have trained ourselves that the God we serve is like the gods of Greek mythology who take joy in the pain of humans. I am here to tell you that is not the God we serve. Our faith and the results of our faith are linked to what we believe about God and I pray that I do this series justice in trying to help us see that we need to change some of our beliefs as it relates to our standing in faith. Some of what I will share in this series comes out of many conversations that I have had with my older brother Barry since earlier this year. We share thoughts and materials between us so I am also using some of his research in this series (just in case it seems familiar to you Barry).

Here are the five faith equations that I will touch on in some format throughout this series. I call them faith equations because our faith does not stand alone. In order to get results, there are things that must be added to our faith, specifically belief and action. In each of the equations you will find that believing has a direct impact on the outcome. Although I am sharing five with you, I will spend the greater amount of time on how our unbelief and/or wrong belief causes our faith to fail.

Before I share these faith equations, I want to remind you of what James said in James 2:14; 26. He said “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?......For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” With this Scripture in mind, consider the following faith equations.