Grace Emmanuel Church

Pastor Sam Chess

THE POWER OF FAITH

(Our Struggle to Believe)

Wednesday night God began to take us down a path… We were wrapping up the subject of Life Purposes, talking about writing out a personal purpose statement.

Gwen Cates talked to us about her trip to Jamaica with Operation Christmas Child and her story was such vivid example of God plucking somebody out of a normal life and giving her a calling that was beyond anything she ever imagined….. We all began to think…

What door might God be on the verge of opening up in my life?

.. A door we didn’t even know existed… A door that might dramatically change the direction and influence of my life… So many of you told me, since Wednesday night how God powerfully spoke to you, that evening.

We all agreed that it didn’t matter how old you were, God may be poised with his hand ready to open a new door for you, whether you are 18 or 80. We also agreed that:

If you are not focused on God purposes for your life, the door that might changed the course of your life, may stay closed forever.

On Thursday, by some “stroke of luck” I spent the afternoon with a Pastor friend from Ohio, who shared what God had been teaching him… and I immediately knew that God had providentially prepared that meeting to build on what we had learned here Wednesday evening.

Our discussion was about: Faith… and the Power of True Faith to accomplish on this earth far beyond what we ever humanly thought possible.

Some switches began to click on, in my own mind, and I knew God wanted me to share this with you. In fact, it completely changed the direction of what I planned to preach on,

this week and next.

I) Our Struggle to Believe

All of us wrestle with letting go of the control of lives and letting God do, in us, what is beyond our control….letting go of the familiar ‘comfort zones” in our lives and letting God take us down paths we have never traveled before. Most of us hold on to the controls of our lives until our knuckles turn white… we say we don’t, but if you step back a few paces, the reality is that we are very, very much in control of what happens in our present, and we are just as determined to control what happens in our futures.

The problem is: When you have your life mapped out with perfect precision and you have a lock on what’s going to happen in your finances, and what is going to happen in your daily schedule. When you have anticipated every possibility and planned a response for it…

You don’t need faith!

By it’s very definition; faith is something you need when you can’t control what is getting ready to happen.

Hebrews 11:1-2 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for. (NIV)

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

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. 2 God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith. (NLT)

We will come back to this definition eventually, but it doesn’t take a lot of deep study to figure out that if you are fully in control of what is going to happen next in your life… you’re not walking in faith….

Faith begins where our control ends!

If you read Scripture with the mindset: Did this person have faith, or not, and if they did what did real faith look like… it begins to define what real faith is. There’s a great example of someone struggling with faith that we are probably all familiar with but it certainly bears repeating.

Luke 5:1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2 he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."

5 Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything………. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

That is the critical point in this story… From no faith to faith.

5 Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything (no faith)………. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

(faith)

6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.

When Simon clicked over from “we can’t do it” to “maybe we can do it”, what took place in his brain? Don’t just say; His faith took hold… we know that… but what does that mean?

I’m quite sure there was a gap in time between the first part of verse 5 and the last part of verse 5. Between the phrases “we tried and failed” and the phrase “we’ll go ahead and try again“, what thought processes clicked in his mind.

This is what I want to develop today… I know what had to happen in order for faith to click on in Peter’s mind.

The picture in Peter’s mind had to change from seeing a boat empty of fish to a mental picture of a boat filled with fish.

Stay with me here:

II. Faith sees what is not seen as reality!

Hebrews 11:1 NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. (AMP)

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

Go back to Scripture and look at the Biblical characters from this perspective. You find a constant line of people who were put in circumstances where they could not possibly control the outcome of events. When they lost control they would turn to God whom they knew could sovereignty meet their needs.

But turning to God alone was not enough. They had to exert faith in God to carry them from where they were in life to where he planned for them to go. That wasn’t automatic.

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!

This is the way we all come to salvation. We are sinners… we come to realize we have no hope of saving ourselves. Somebody explains to us that Jesus died for our sins and defeated death to offer us eternal life. Salvation is available but we don’t have it unless we:

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

When we reach beyond what our physical minds can see and grasp what we our spiritual minds see as available to us… our faith grabs hold and we receive salvation.

The Christian’s growth in the “walk of faith” is supposed to be a progression of that same kind of response. The Christian is not supposed to come to Christ by reaching beyond what they can see, and taking hold of what they could not see for salvation… and then stopping there and never repeating that behavior again. The people in Scripture that God used in a mighty way, were people who had gotten hold of what “walking in faith” really means.

Before I go deeper, let me give an couple example to show you that the basis of what I’m saying is not nuts.

Genesis 12: The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

2 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." 4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him….

What in the world would cause a guy to leave his home, and all that he knew… pack up all his immediate household, travel hundreds of miles across the desert to a place he had never seen, to try to settle in an area of hostile foreigners. Faith!

All based on a visit from God who said I’ll make you into a great nation, I’ll give you a land, I’ll make you a blessing, and everyone you associate with will be blessed through you? “Come on Sarai, pack up the kids in the Rambler, we’re going to be a blessing.

I can tell you, based on the truth of God’s Word, exactly what happed in Abram’s mind. At some point, the picture of what yet wasn’t…. became a reality in Abram’s mind as if it already were

The picture didn’t stay locked in… it got fuzzy:

Genesis 15: After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. " 2 But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." 4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." 5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."

Abram goes outside and looks up. All he can think about is his lack of children in spite of God’s promise. It’s been 25 years since God spoke to him in Ur. He and Sarai had packed the Rambler and traveled through modern day Iran, and Iraq, and Syria, and landed in what would become Israel but the visible sign of God’s promise still eluded him. Sarah was still barren. He looked up and started counting the stars… one, two… six thousand… and somewhere in that counting process,

Into his mind came the assurance of what was not as if it already were!

At some point the facts were overcome by the faith that the facts were not quite accurate.

V: 6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Faith is not hoping that what isn’t… is. Faith is not pretending that what is not ….is.

Faith is the belief that what appears to be the “facts” does not measure up to what God has shown to be “truth.” In faith… “truth” often contradicts your circumstances.

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.

Hebrews 11:1-2 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for. (NIV)

Faith is not a nebulous nothing, Faith is a something. When faith comes to you, you didn’t pick up some metaphysical nothingness. When you get faith.. You’ve really got faith.

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

Romans tells us that once Abraham counted the stars he was locked in on reality, even though his circumstances didn’t catch us for a while.

Romans 4:18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." 23 The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

Your faith, in God, is what God responds to!

Faith pleases God, a lack of faith displeases God!

The just shall live by faith! (NKJV) Rom 1:17; Gal. 3:11

(present tense… unending action)

God has linked the accomplishment of His Divine will on this earth to the exerting of faith in him by those who believe.

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

If we don’t exercise our faith in God we will exercise it in something else.

Whatever is not of faith (in God), is sin. (NKJV) Rom. 14:23

Conclusion: GEC’s Adventure of Faith

Years ago we were looking for a piece of land. We went to meeting after meeting, turned away from one piece after another. Land prices were going up and we had no money anyway.

Somewhere along the way, somebody/s locked on to God and saw what was not, as if it already were… that’s faith…that is the only reason we are building today!

Later, when many were thinking of going to the bank for a loan, somebody/s looked beyond the facts and saw what was not… as if it already were. That’s the only reason we are building debt-free today!