Faith TO Receive
SERMON STARTER
This past New Year’s Eve party involved a few of us assembling to enjoy an alcohol-free time of relaxation, fellowship and fun. Rev. Bob McFall, a life-long friend and acquaintance, and I were “shop talking” about ministry life with some of our Sheepfold members. Rev. Bob shared an interesting profundity when he said that:
TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON PRAYER CAN LEAD TO EMOTIONALISM, and
TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON THE WORD OF GOD CAN LEAD TO INTELLECTUALISM.
There are two old-fashioned wringer-washer rollers here. One roller is prayer, the other roller is God’s Word. What is wrung out between the two rollers is "faith." Faith is squeezed out and worked out in the tension between emotion and cognition.
The word, “Faith,” mis-pronounced, “Faayth,” by the Southern charismatic evangelicals, has become a religious cliché. The world has been desensitized to the word and principle of faith. Faith has been stipulated to mean: cognitively understanding formulas and methodologies for man’s manipulation and control of God. I once read a faith teacher’s article entitled, “Writing Your Own Ticket With God.”
I would NOT like to re-invent faith, but I WOULD like to start the New Year on a good foot as I continue my relationship with God. Consequently, I understand that some of my readers and listeners will not hear or accept what I am saying because they have a bias for or against faith. I simply want to find God’s Will and purposes as I am occasionally surrounded by challenges to my faith.
January 6, 2008
Sheepfold Ministries, Pastor Phil Roland
Faith TO Receive
Various Texts
“Christians thru the ages have cried out to God during times of trial. They have exclaimed, ‘Lord, We believe! Increase our faith!’” Pastor Phil
"Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word (Rayma) of Christ." Romans 10:17
Characteristics of Having Faith to Receive:
I. FAITH LISTENS FOR GOD'S VOICE
A. Jesus' Sheep Listen - John 10:27
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
1. They Heard and Responded - Luke 5:4-6
“When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Launch out into
the deep and let down your nets for a catch." But Simon answered and
said to Him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing;
nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net." And when they had
done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was
breaking.”
2. Faith, Hearing and Healing go together – Luke 5:15
“However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and
great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their
infirmities.”
B. Jesus' Word is His Presence - Luke 7:7-9
"Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word,
and my servant will be healed. "For I also am a man placed under authority,
having soldiers under me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another,
'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus
heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd
that followed Him, "I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in
Israel!"
1. He is Present in His Word (Rayma) – 2 Timothy 3:16,17
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, (God breathed) and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly
equipped for every good work.”
2. He will Accomplish His work thru His Word - Isaiah 55:11
“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to
Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the
thing for which I sent it.”
3. God sent His Word and Healed Them – Psalm 107:20
“He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their
destructions.”
II. FAITH MUST BE WILLING TO DO WHAT JESUS SAYS
A. Mary's Faith at the Wedding at Cana - John 2:5
“His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."
B. Rational Thought is Over-ridden by Obedience- John 2:9-10
“When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did
not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew),
the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, "Every man at
the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then
the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!"
1. Faith must temporarily over-ride intellect
2. Faith fills wine jars with water
C. The Greater Law of the Spirit supercedes Natural Law
1. Jesus walks on water - Matt. 14:23-25
“And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain
by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the
boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind
was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them,
walking on the sea.”
2. Elijah's Floating Axe Head - 2 Kings 6:4-6
So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down
trees. But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the
water; and he cried out and said, "Alas, master! For it was borrowed." So
the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" And he showed him the place.
So he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float.”
3. Joshua’s Command of God stops sun/ moon - Josh. 10:12,13
“Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up
the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of
Israel: "Sun, stand still over Gibeon; And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon."
So the sun stood still, And the moon stopped, Till the people had revenge
upon their enemies. . .So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and
did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.”
D. Natural Mind cannot Comprehend the Irrational - 1 Cor. 2:13,14
“These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but
which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the
natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned.”
III. FAITH MUST "DO" AS WELL AS "HEAR"
A. We must ACT upon the Word of Christ - James 1:22
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
B. Jesus' Parable of House building - Matt 7:24-27
"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken
him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: "and the rain descended, the
floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it
was founded on the rock. "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
FAITH TO RECEIVE, cont., p.3
IV. FAITH GIVES GOD THE GLORY
A. Jesus commanded them to keep quiet - Mark. 7:31-36
“Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst
of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to Him one
who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put
His hand on him. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers
in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He
sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." Immediately his ears
were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke
plainly. Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more
He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it.
B. The Source of a miracle is greater than the miracle – John 14:8-10
”Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus
said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me,
Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show
us the Father'? "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father
who dwells in Me does the works.”
1. Jesus was no "Glory Skimmer"
2. Genuine Humility of Heart is the Answer
V. FAITH SAYS, "Thank You"
A. The Healing of Ten Leprous Men - Luke 17:11-13
“Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of
Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten
men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said,
"Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" So when He saw them, He said to them,
“Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they
were cleansed.”
B. One Returns with Thanks - Luke 17:15-16; 17-19
“And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud
voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And
he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten
cleansed? But where are the nine? "Were there not any found who returned to
give glory to God except this foreigner? And He said to him, "Arise, go your way.
Your faith has made you well."
VI. GOD'S RESPONSE TO THE LEPER'S FAITH
A. He is Cleansed AND Healed Through a Re-Creative Miracle
B. Complete Faith / Healing through "Thanksgiving" -1 Thes.5:16-18
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this
is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
YOU BEAR HIS IMAGE
YOUR LIFE is Jesus to someone,
Though tattered and torn it may be.
Though often times weak and unstable,
You're all of God someone will see.
YOUR TONGUE is Jesus to someone.
That idle, insensitive word
Reflects to at least one searching heart
An idle, insensitive Lord.
YOUR GOALS are Jesus to someone.
What you put first, they believe,
Are the goals of God for the Christian.
Your life is all they receive.
YOUR FAITHFULNESS... that's Jesus to someone.
Their judgment of how God is true,
Rests unquestionably in the faithfulness
They see day by day in you.
YOUR LOVE is Jesus to someone--
That someone who is seeking to know
That Jesus will follow and guide and
Befriend wherever in life they might go.
SO BEWARE lest others blaspheme
God by what you say or do,
For the only Jesus that someone knows
Is the Jesus they see in you.
Author Unknown
COURTESY OF SHEEPFOLD MINISTRIES – Pastor Phil Roland - 2008