NORTH YORK CHURCH OF CHRIST

Pastor Roger C. Marcos
March 4, 2018

Faith is seeing life through God’s Eyes.

How Important Is Faith? It takes faith to believe in Christ; it takes faith to believe what God says is always right and true; and it takes faith to trust and walk in that each and every day. However, if you’re faith doesn’t continue to grow in your relationship with Christ, you won’t have the faith to see God’s Kingdom come ... not only in your life, but in the lives of people that are around you.

Whatever faith you have inside of you will determine the outcome of the faith level you’ll have for God at work around you. If you don’t have faith for God to move, there’s a good chance you won’t be looking for anything to take place.

Do you realize that the message of your life; what you spend your time, money and energy on will scream how much faith [belief] you have put in Christ?

For the last two months, of 2018 the Lord, added 11 people to the church 2 baptism and 9 transferred to the North York Church of Christ.

It’s one thing to talk about faith - it’s quite another to Act on Faith! In order to discover WHAT IT MEANS TO HAVE FAITH FOR EVERYDAY LIVING.

I want to try to help you to discover what faith is, and how it can help you in your struggle to be everything that you can be in Christ.

Faith in Action

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrew 11:1

Faith is the result of believing the Gospel - the good news that Jesus died for our sin and made a way for us to be right with God and spend eternity in heaven. When we allow the reality of the Gospel to affect every part of our lives, it changes the way we think which changes how we behave.

I. FAITH IS. BELIEVING WHEN I DON’T SEE IT. Trusting in Jesus Is living your life with hope.

Faith Means Relying On God. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:6 NLT

Faith must be part of our daily lifestyle. The just shall live by faith. We walk by faith, not by sight.

Anytime we demonstrate faith, What does your faith do for you?

Does it INVIGORATE YOU, Does it stimulate you? Does it energize you? Does it REJUVENATE you?

Mean to make you young and youthful again.

FAITH, is the most important subject in the Bible!

Without Faith it is impossible to please God. WITHOUT FAITH THE LIFE, DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS MEAN LITTLE.

Faith has been preached, proved, professed, and prayed about

Faith in God means we rely on him and depend on his reliability. Having faith means realizing that God is bigger, greater, and better than me

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." -- Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the Substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Heb.

The substance of faith should make something materialize! The evidence of faith should bring about conviction. Example of Abraham’s life

It sounds like a contradiction, but the Bible teaches that faith is visualizing the future in the present. It's being sure of what you don't see - It is seeing it in advance. Man says: "Seeing is believing." God says: "Believing is seeing."

In 1960, John F. Kennedy stood up and said: "Let's put a man on the moon by the end of the decade." When he said that, the technology had not been invented to put a man on the moon. But some things have to be believed before you can see them. You've got to believe it in advance.

Everything that's happened in life was an impossibility before it became a reality and somebody had to believe it. Faith is simply trusting God to turn dreams into reality. Because nothing happens until somebody believes it's possible.

What do you see in your own future? What is your dream? What impossible thing is God going to do in your life?

You have to have faith that it is going to happen for it to happen - you have to be certain that God can and will do these things in your life.

What do you envision as the future of this church? What can we be sure of, what can we know with certainty that God is going to do through us?

I can tell you what I can see by faith: I can see a beautiful church facility built to the glory of God.

It might be one or three of our young people going to Africa for a mission, reaching the un-church for Christ sake.

I don’t think this is going to happen - I know it by faith - I can see it as clearly as I can see you all this morning.

II. GIVING WHEN I DON’T HAVE IT. You don’t have to be rich to have a generous heart and give to others.

Did you know that? Faith is giving when I don't have it to give. Giving and faith go together. In fact, God uses finances to test us all the time.

Have you ever had to make a decision whether to pay a bill, or tithe? This is a test - God's testing US to see how much WE trust Him.

There are two ways that you can give: You can give by faith, or you can give by fear.

Giving by fear is when you say, "How much can I afford to give?" Giving by faith is when you say, "How much does God want me to give, whether I've got it to give or not?" That's what it means to give in faith.

"...by faith (Abel) was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offering ... " - Hebrews 11:4b. Abel gave in faith

Paul was taking up a collection among believers to help their friends in Jerusalem who were having a really tough time of it. He tells us about the giving of the Macedonian Christians in 2 Cor. 8:2-3:

“Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. - 2 Corinthians 8:2-3

Now it's one thing to give when you've got it to spare. It's another thing to give when you don't know where it's going to come from to pay your bills. That is a test of faith - Giving when you don't have it.

III. THANKING GOD BEFORE I RECEIVE IT. Now, a good example of this is Joshua: "By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days." - Hebrews 11:30

During Israel ’s wanderings, they come up to the most fortified city in the world, Jericho with its enormous walls. Now here are people who have ve been slaves for 400 years. They're not a trained army. They have no weapons.

God says, "Okay, guys. Here's my plan: I want you to walk around this city, once a day, for six days. Just march around it in silence. And then, on the seventh day, I want you to march around it seven times. And I want you to be thanking Me in advance, all during this time. Trust in Me. This is going to be a statement of faith, by your marching around, because you expect Me to work."

And they're marching around just like God told them to, and just like the old black spiritual says, the walls came tumbling down. They had victory.

What were they doing? They were thanking God in advance. That's what faith is. Faith is not believing God can do it. God can do it whether you believe it or not. His ability is not dependent upon your faith.

Faith isn't even believing he will do it. That's hope - "I hope He will. I hope He'll answer my prayer. I hope He'll save my marriage. I hope He'll get me a job. I hope He'll find me a marriage partner. I hope I'll get well." That's hope.

Faith is thanking God in advance. It's believing that God is already doing it - In the present - That the answer is already on its way.

Look at this verse, “. I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” - Mark 11:24

Notice the past tense, "...believe that you have received it..." That's what faith is. Believe you've already received it. If you waited until you received the answer to thank God, is that faith? No, that's just gratitude. It's thanking God in advance.

For instance, if I were to give you a check for $50.00 and I said, "You know, I want you to have this gift." Would you wait until you cashed it in order to thank me? I don’t think so.

The Bible is full of stories that show this principle that faith is thanking God in advance.

Conclusion:

Now let me just close this by saying that some of you are trying to face a full-time problem on part-time faith and that won't work -

It just won't work. You need a full-time, faith to handle the problems you're going to have this year. And the starting point is to establish a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Surrender your life to Jesus--- that’s what It means to have faith In Christ!