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Grace Emmanuel Church
Pastor Sam Chess
THE POWER OF FAITH 6
What is going on in your life that you are trusting God for, that
can not possibly happen, apart from the direct personal attention of
God.
Every person, in Scripture, who had faith, were people who were able
to catch a glimpse over the hill of what is… 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 want to pick up with the point where I left off last week:
I. God is faithful!
All faith is based on faithfulness! People often use the term
“blind faith” but nobody, nobody actually practices it. I would go
as far as to say that it is impossible to exert faith that is not
based on some level of someone’s faithfulness. You have faith in
someone because, on some level, you have come to believe that they
will deliver what they have consciously or unconsciously promised
you.
Let me tell you a story… The children of Israel had dropped the ball
in their relationship with God for hundreds of years ignoring what God
had specifically asked them to do and instead worshipping idols made of
stone and wood until finally God, in mercy, caused Babylon (Iraq) to
invade them and take them into captivity for 70 years. They learned
their lesson… they never returned to worshipping idols again! Toward
the end of that time a young Jewish man named Nehemiah began to be
burdened that, back home in Israel, Jerusalem lay in ruins with the
city walls flattened. He asked the king if he could return to Jerusalem
and rebuild the walls. Artexerxes, the King, said yes and Nehemiah 1-7
is a wonderful story of trust in God as Nehemiah and his band of Jews,
fighting against huge opposition, re-build the walls around the entire
city, wide enough to drive a car around, in just 52 days.
When the last block fell into place on day 52 it sparked, not
just a Jewish patriotic fervor but a spiritual revival, of renewed
relationship with God. I love the picture painted in Nehemiah 8:
Nehemiah 8:1 all the people assembled together as one person at
the square just inside the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe
to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had given
for Israel to obey. 2 So on October 8 Ezra the priest brought the
scroll of the law before the assembly, which included the men and
women and all the children old enough to understand. 3 He faced the
square just inside the Water Gate from early morning until noon and
read aloud to everyone who could understand. All the people paid
close attention to the Book of the Law… 5 Ezra stood on the
platform in full view of all the people. When they saw him open the
book, they all rose to their feet.
What a sight….I go up to Daytona each year with a group of men. When
the cars come around toward the green flag for the first time every
person in the stands spontaneously comes to their feet… Imagine…they
see Ezra, the priest, standing up on a high wooden platform they had
built for just that purpose, open the book of the Law and everyone
comes to their feet…breathless waiting.
6Then Ezra praised the LORD, the great God, and all the
people chanted, "Amen! Amen!" as they lifted their hands toward
heaven. Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their
faces to the ground.
We use the word “amen” at the end of our prayers to mean, I’m done,
(over and out). Sometimes when somebody says something we agree with we
say “amen” meaning, “I agree with what you said”….but that’s not where
the word came from, as I explained to you last week.
We don’t have an unpronounceable Hebrew word in the Old Testament
that means Amen, the Hebrew word is “amen” ….
ן מֵ אָ
We learned last week the word Amen didn’t mean, “I’m done with my
prayer”….It meant:
Faithful!
The Israelite people were looking back at the trail behind them and
discovering that God had brought them through impossible circumstances
and had delivered them in a way they never dreamed possible… They are
shouting what they are realizing in their minds and feeling in their
hearts.
God, you didn’t let us down!
We failed you but you didn’t fail us!
You came through for us in the most miraculous ways!
We discussed, last week, that this is what God is trying to help us
to understand. This room is full of people who, when they sweep “the
fog of the war of life out of their eyes”, can look back and see that
God has not failed to do, for us, what is in our best interest…every
time, in every circumstance of our lives.
On top of everything else….We deserved death and hell for our
rebellion against God. Instead God, through his son Jesus Christ, took
our place in death and provided, undeserved, eternal life for all who
would believe.
2 Corinthians 1:20 For all of God's promises have been fulfilled
in him. (Jesus) That is why we say "Amen" when we give glory to God
through Christ. (NLT)
Let me take you on , today, to a new thought:
II. Faith in God’s faithfulness still requires ______________ on our
part!
There are several words you could put in that blank…but the word I
want to discuss today is:
Patience.
I told you, in the last few weeks, that one of the reasons for all
the stories in Scripture is to allow us to see 1) The faithfulness of
God in every situation, 2) The need for every single person to:
glimpse over the hill of what is… and grasp a picture in their
spiritual mind of what God wanted to be… and 3) the absolute
necessity for every person who walks in faith to learn the art of
patience.
There something that doesn’t quite fit when we say to God. God I
completely trust in your faithfulness… I am, in faith, believing that
you have heard my request and your divine deliverance is on the way…
and, Oh, one more thing God: I want the answer now! …..I don’t mind
having faith in you God but I don’t want to have to wait for your
response. I don’t mind trusting in you as long as I don’t have to
trust you for any length of time!
Hebrews 6: 11 We want each of you to show…diligence to the very end,
in order to make your hope sure. 12 We do not want you to become lazy,
but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has
been promised. 13When God made his promise to Abraham, since there
was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying,
"I will surely bless you and give you many descendants." 15 And so
after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
……after waiting patiently Abraham received what was promised.
…imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been
promised.
A) The Power Pair…. The Triumphant Twins… The Dynamic Duo…
Faith and Patience! Faith and Patience! Faith and Patience!
Adam and Vanessa are moving to Tennessee this week. We have been
praying with them, (in the Friday prayer meeting that meets in my
office at 10AM) and one day Vanessa said she didn’t mind trusting God
but she wanted God to give her a date when all their waiting would be
over. Of course, all the prayer group, in great love and tenderness
teased her mercilessly right in the middle of the prayer time… Oddly,
the next week God answered her prayer and did give her a date… but not,
as I recall, without a lot of weeks that had gone before, where the
Scales were hanging on to God in sheer faith, looking for his answers
to their lives.
Colossians 1:9.. we have continued praying for you ever since we
first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding
of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise
with spiritual wisdom. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and
please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for
others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better. 11
We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power
so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you
be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father, who has enabled
you to share the inheritance that belongs to God's holy people…
I was going through some massive trials back a few years ago that
threatened our financial disaster and ruin….it would have certainly
have meant resigning as Pastor of this church. It wasn’t one thing…it
was a series of events that came one on top of another that piled up
faster and higher than anything up to that point. My wife and I were
invited
to spend the weekend, free of charge, (thankfully) in a motel, in
Jensen Beach, on the river, and during that weekend I was as close to
cracking as I have ever been. The picture God gave me that weekend was
of a violent hurricane blowing at me but he made it clear that my
responsibility was to “lean into the wind”.
As I “leaned”, over the next few weeks, God began to turn around the
impossible situations in my life until now… 7-8 years later they are
barely left in my memory. (I had to stop and think about what happened
to remember the details)
Patience is an inseparable twin with faith! You can’t have one
without the other!
Spiritual growth demands that our faith and patience grow, in
tandem, in conjunction with each other.. In fact, the Bible
specifically lists three characteristics that are to be present in a
mature person.
Titus 2:1 But as for you, promote the
kind of living that reflects right teaching. 2 Teach the older men to
exercise self-control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely.
They must have strong faith and be filled with love and patience.
Don’t misunderstand…sometimes we define patience as being willing to
put up with whatever comes…not bucking the tide. That’s not the way it
is, when it is linked as part of the “Triumphant Twins” with faith.
Faith doesn’t sit and wait for whatever happens… Faith catches a
glimpse over the hill of what is… and grasps a picture in our spiritual
minds of what God wants to be! Into our minds comes the assurance of
what is not, as if it already were!
Patience, then, waits not for just whatever happens… but true
patience digs in and waits for what God has specifically indicated
he is going to do! This theology of waiting, not for whatever comes
down the pike but for God’s specific response is a big deal in
Scripture:
Psalms 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait
for the LORD.
Psalm 37:7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for
him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their
wicked schemes.
Psalm 130: 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I
put my hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for
the morning…
Earlier in this series we got into the whole “Plant the seed of
faith….watch it grow through it stages” discussion. I found this
passage in James:
James 5:7 Dear brothers and sisters, you must be patient as you wait
for the Lord's return. Consider the farmers who eagerly look for the
rains in the fall and in the spring. They patiently wait for the
precious harvest to ripen. 8 You, too, must be patient. And take
courage, for the coming of the Lord is near…. 10 For examples of
patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets
who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 We give great honor to those who
endure under suffering. Job is an example of a man who endured
patiently. From his experience we see how the Lord's plan finally ended
in good, for he is full of tenderness and mercy. (NLT)
Now here is the third point and a strange twist in this whole
picture:
III. The Twins of Faith and Patience don’t grow from the same womb!
What do you mean?
You know where faith comes from … It comes directly from hearing the
voice of God. The more clearly you “hear” the Word of God the stronger
your faith becomes…
So where does patience come from?
Hebrews 12:2 says: Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith… (NIV)
So, is Jesus the author and perfector of our patience? Where does
patience come from?
Romans 5:1Therefore, since we have been
made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of
what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith,
Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now
stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's
glory.
3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we
know that they are good for us--they help us learn to endure (be
patient). 4 And endurance (patience) develops strength of character in
us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation
(faith).
Verses one and two make clear that Jesus Christ is the source of our
faith…verses three and four tell us that patience leads to more faith
but doesn’t tell us what the source of our trials and tests are…
Do out trials and tests come directly from the hand of God? NO!
James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various
trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4
But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect
and complete, lacking nothing.
James 1:12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because
when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God
has promised to those who love him. 13 When tempted, no one should say,
"God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he
tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire,
he is dragged away and enticed. 15 When, after desire has conceived, it
gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to
death. (NIV)
So it’s the testing of your faith that produces patience and, as we
saw in the last passage, our growth in patience leads to even more
faith….. but the production of patience, in us, is not something that
starts with God???..._____________________________________
So you’re saying, Pastor, that in order to have a mature spiritual
life a person needs to have the twins of faith and patience but one of
those twins spawns directly from the Word of God and one of those twins
spawns directly from the enemy of God?
Yeah…isn’t that cool?
Satan leads us directly into trials and temptations… as long as we
respond correctly those trials and temptations will lead us to more
faith. So indirectly, the very trials satan is intending to cause us to
loose faith are the very tools God is using to increase our
faith!!!
So in a warped sort of way, satan’s efforts in our lives, are
leading us deeper into our faith in God.
I told you Wednesday evening that satan is not omniscient and he
constantly oversteps himself! He thinks what he is doing is leading him
to victory over God when in fact he is playing right into God’s hands
and his efforts to trip you up are the very tools God uses to deepen
you r faith !!!
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