Grace Emmanuel Church

Pastor Sam Chess

THE POWER OF FAITH

(An Example to Follow)

I met with a group of Pastor’s this week that I pray with every Thursday morning. We pray for each other and our churches. This week I told them… “I’m not sure all that is happening, but God is up to something.// I told them about the intense responses in many of you the last two Wednesday evenings. Several of you….in the last ten days are reaching out in a level of faith that you have never reached before.

God is up to something!!! He’s beginning to slip open doorways in our personal lives and in our corporate church life that we hoped existed but we weren’t quite sure… Some of you, on Wednesday evening, as I talked about the possibilities of faith, the power of faith… your eyes were saying , Oh please God let that be true in my life!!

I. An Experience to Define

What if this is a true statement for every one in this room:

The possibilities for your life are as high as you faith can stretch!

This needs a little explanation… Truth is, we learned Wednesday night, that none of us lack faith. God hard wired us all to believe.. To have faith.

God created all people to believe. It’s our nature to put our trust in something.

The question each of us must wrestle with is not are we going to trust, are we going to plant our trust in something… we all do that every day of our lives.

The real question is what/who are we going to put our trust in? If we don’t exercise faith in God we will invest our faith in something else.

After the article about the church came out in the paper this week, we received several calls asking, “how do we go about building by faith.” One man showed up, in the office, for an appointment with me on Friday to find out how, his group could get money together to build a church in West Palm Beach. He and his church… are HINDU! I had the experience of explaining to a Hindu, how we, as Christians, put our complete faith in God to do what we could never do on our own. It was an absolutely exhilarating experience! It was one of the most enjoyable things I have had the opportunity to do, in a long time.

I told him about our search for land and the fact that we had no money. I told him how God had convinced us to give some, of what we did have away, even though it meant we would have even less. I explained how God had come through and miraculously provided all we needed, and more, to buy the land. I explained that, once we learned how God had responded, to our faith, we were inclined to trust Him even more to build the church, by faith…. And we were inclined to give away even more to others.

I explained to him that, now, the picture of a completed building was locked into many of our minds as if it were already completed... And the picture of a hundred churches, schools, and orphanages built for others elsewhere was also locked into many of our minds…and we were beginning to understand that those pictures of faith are just the small end of even larger steps of faith God is preparing for us in the future!

Hebrews 11:1-2 What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.

(NLT)

Every person, in Scripture, who had faith, were people who were able to catch a glimpse over the hill of what was… and grasp a picture in their spiritual mind of what God wanted to be! Into their minds came the assurance of what was not as if it already were!

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (NKJV)

I felt like, Wednesday evening, we were truly starting to understand that. Faith is not the hope that things will improve. It is seeing through the crack in the door and glimpsing on the other side what God is wanting to do in our lives… then reaching through the crack and grabbing on to that “truth” and holding it to ourselves as God’s truth for us.

Whether or not you have true faith depends on whether or not you can grasp what God is showing you to be true, regardless of what your surrounding circumstances seem to be saying.

Faith does not wait for an answer to arrive before it sees it as done!

Faith receives an answer before it receives an answer!

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II. An Example to Follow

I’ve given you several Biblical examples, so far, to show you how faith works itself out in a human life. We looked at Moses, and Abraham, David with Goliath and blind Bartimaeus.

Let me point you today to Paul, the apostle. Here was a man who seemed to have boundless energy, undeterred purpose, an attitude of gritty determination. He believed, and stated, that “everything would work together for good”. That’s because he lived a charmed life.. Right? …wrong!

We look back on his life and see how his ministry opened up the world to the gospel. In college, we referred to Paul as they did in Thessalonica:

Acts 17:1 Now… they…came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas. 5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

Is that how Paul saw himself? Did he put a vanity license plate on his donkey cart:

TTWUD (turned the world upside down)

We see him that way… we see that he shook the civilized world by the roots and planted the seeds of the gospel all over the Middle East and Asia and finally into Europe.

But Paul didn’t, quite, get to bask in his success. He was too busy dodging stonings, and getting run out of towns…. Swimming ashore from shipwrecks and looking out from behind bars.

2 Corinthians 11: 23 I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? (NIV)

What in the world drove this man? Most of us would have thrown in the towel after just three public beatings… How could Paul keep getting beat up, run out of town, thrown into prison… even when he was not getting beat up by people, he seemed to get beat up by God: “Three times I was shipwrecked” …. Come on…. What are the statistical chances of that? It’s like getting hit by lightning three times… it just doesn’t happen to one person.

But Paul saw every circumstance through and attitude of faith. That is to say…

He was able to catch a glimpse over the hill of what was… and grasp a picture in his spiritual mind of what God wanted to be! Into his minds came the assurance of what was not as if it already were!

This guy’s life is a living object lesson of the statements I gave you last week.

By it’s very definition; faith is something you need when you can’t control what is getting ready to happen. Faith begins where our control ends!

(So much of Paul’s life seemed to function outside of his control)

Faith perceives as reality what is not revealed to the five senses..

(If he had proceeded, on any given day, based on what he could see with his eyes and feel with his hands he would have given up many times over)

Faith is the belief that what appears to be the “facts” does not measure up to what God has shown to be “truth.

Paul lived with a sense of incredible confidence.. He seemed to live with an inner assurance of undefeatable victory over his circumstances. He seemed to view huge mountains like they were just anthills meant to be walked over…

Paul and Silas are whipped and thrown into prison in Philippi. I would have thought things like: This is absurd… I answer God’s “Macedonian Call” and this is what I get for it. We haven’t even started ministering here in Europe and the whole thing is down the toilet.

Paul responded with Faith: What appeared to be the “facts” did not measure up to what God has shown him to be “truth.”

So he proceeded based on what he knew to be the truth even though his circumstances were working overtime to prove his faith wrong. God had sent him to minister to Europe, he was going to minister to Europe. Whatever this jail experience was about, it wasn’t going to stop the bigger picture because:

He was able to catch a glimpse over the hill of what was… and grasp a picture in his spiritual mind of what God wanted to be! Into his minds came the assurance of what was not as if it already were!

Silas, this is obviously just a bump in the path to the destination God is moving us toward, so let’s use the time wisely. Let’s sing some songs, Silas, about how God is always good, regardless of our circumstances, and how he never fails to reward the faith of those who wholly put their trust in him!

Paul is shipwrecked…. again. He’s washing ashore thinking…. What?

God, what are you doing to me? Don’t you remember all those letter I wrote about how you loved and cared for those who trust in you? I trust you… why are you always picking on me?

Or:

God, this is unexpected. I wonder what opportunity is waiting over there on shore that was important enough for you to send me on this side excursion. This will give me the opportunity to preach the Good News to people who might never had heard if our ship had safely sailed on by… thank you God for, yet another, open door.

Faith perceives as reality what is not revealed to the five senses..

They begin to build a fire… Paul helps, thankful for the opportunity to get warmed up. A poisonous snake leaps out of the firewood and locks his fangs into his hand.

Ahhhhh, I’m gonna die… I’m gonna die… thanks for nothing God!

Or:

Whoa, a viper! This will sure give God an opportunity to prove his power to these natives!

Faith does not wait for an answer to arrive before it sees it as done!

Many of us have vipers hanging on to our hands right now. Vipers of:

Faithlessness says: God I thought you said you were going to take care of me. I depended on your promises and look what you have allowed into my life.

Faith says: God, this viper is an indicator that you are going to do something extraordinary to show me and those around me your power.

The viper hanging from your hand is not a sign that God doesn’t care… in fact, it is stark evidence that he very much wants to show his power through your circumstances.

He needs you now to catch a glimpse over the hill of what was… and grasp a picture in your spiritual mind of what God wants to be! Into your mind will come the assurance of what is not as if it already were!

You will lock on, in faith, to where God is taking you. It will become the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, that you will hang on to until your circumstances come to match the truth God has already planted in your mind!

Hebrews 11:1 Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see. (CEV)

Paul is arrested, brought before one arrogant ruler after another. Finally taken to Rome under threat of his life.

We know now how significant those events were…

1) Witness to government officials

2) Began to spread the gospel throughout Rome, into the very household of Caesar.

3) Got the piece and quiet necessary to write the Pastoral Epistles which so influence all our lives.

If you’re in your Roman prison now, it’d not the end of the road… in fact, it may very well be defining the road ahead….