[0:00] Greetings to each of you. In Jesus' name. Oh, that we would have the faith of a little child, right? That we could sing out like, I don't know who that was.
[0:13] Was it Zachary? Jesus loves me. You were all singing, but he was singing. Amen.
[0:25] Amen. All the children. Bless you, children, for that. God is good, and it's a blessing to be here again. I just was thinking here, sitting here this morning, looked at the calendar and realized that with some change of plans that I might be missing the next four Sundays, I think.
[0:52] So this might be the last Sunday here for a while. We had some change in our Michigan trip, and then also Honduras coming up, and Florida, and if everything goes through with the prison.
[1:12] So I'll miss you all. I'll miss being here for sure. May God give us the faith to keep walking with Him. All week, it seemed like the thing that kept coming back to me, and even the week before, was about faith.
[1:32] And is that a little extra loud? Or it seems like I have an echo in my ears. Maybe it's just me that it's affecting. I think that's better.
[1:48] You know, we have faith to come to Christ. Last week, we heard about faith and works. I don't want to do a repeat on all that, but maybe from a different angle.
[2:01] The need to live by faith daily. And this isn't necessarily a message of, you know, coming to Christ by faith or being born again.
[2:17] This is more assuming we are born again. We do know Christ. We have, by faith, accepted His grace. We're saved by grace through faith.
[2:30] And so, that's more the burden of my message this morning, is that we walk in faith. We live by faith. We trust God. And I want to talk a little bit about the difference between trust and faith, which isn't very much.
[2:46] I mean, they intermingle a lot. There is a difference. But I'm going to have quite a few verses, and you don't need to turn to them all.
[3:01] If you want to look at them later, you can jot down the reference.
[3:14] You can jot down the reference. So, the first one is in Luke. Luke 18, verse 8.
[3:25] It says, Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, that He shall find faith on the earth. And then in 1 Peter 1, verse 5, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
[3:44] kept by the power of God through faith. These are just random verses here. And there's many, many more.
[3:56] I'm not even going to be getting close to all the verses in the New Testament about having faith, or about faith. And here I just have noted again, faith alone won't save you.
[4:08] But no one can be saved without it. Faith alone won't save you. We are saved by grace.
[4:20] It's His grace. It's not my trust or your trust alone, although that is, and you have to have it. If you don't trust in Christ and the blood, then His grace doesn't apply to you.
[4:38] So we can't have salvation without faith. But faith alone won't save you. Faith in His grace will. Does that make sense?
[4:50] It's the grace of God that saves us. I want to be clear on that. And today, like I said, I want to mainly focus on having continued faith after justification.
[5:08] Once we are born again, we have been cleansed from our sins. Do we still need to press on into faith, having faith, continued faith, after we have become a Christian?
[5:24] Yes, the blood of Jesus Christ is the only payment for our sin. But then we live by faith. Peter says here in the...
[5:37] I have a verse somewhere from Peter. But it says that we are kept... Oh yeah, I just read it. We are kept by the power of God through faith. Hebrews has a lot to say about faith.
[5:52] Hebrews 10, verse 38, and I'll look at more verses later. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul has no pleasure in him.
[6:05] So if we draw back and we don't trust, maybe we trusted more at one point, but today we're not really trusting God. God has no pleasure in that.
[6:16] So if we have been justified by faith, by grace through faith, we shall also live that way.
[6:29] That verse comes to mind that... about believing... how is that verse? That if we have accepted Christ, we also should...
[6:45] as you have received Christ, so walk in Him. That's the verse. As we have received Christ Jesus, so walk in Him. It's a walk. It's not a one-time deal.
[6:57] But it's a walk of faith. The just shall live by faith. So if we've been justified, we shall live by faith. What is the difference between trust and faith?
[7:10] And I don't know that I... I'm not going to claim that I know all of this, but there is a difference, slightly. I would say that trust has more limitations.
[7:25] Not if you have faith, though. Trust is unlimited if we have faith. But... So, when I trust someone, it usually comes with experience.
[7:38] It comes with something, okay, I trust you, Enos, because I've gotten to know you. And you've been proven to be trustworthy, and I would trust you with a lot of things, a lot of money, or whatever.
[7:53] I would just trust that I know His heart, I know His walk. So I trust Him. And we hear comments like, hey, don't trust in that company.
[8:06] They're a rip-off. They're not trustworthy. And so, that's what I meant by trust has its limitation, at least on this earth.
[8:19] And our trust, yes, it's often based on our experiences with people, and even with God sometimes. We, you know, we limit ourselves in trusting God by our experiences with God.
[8:34] Have you experienced God enough that you can trust Him? But you know, faith goes deeper. It goes a step further.
[8:47] Faith is trusting and believing without seeing. faith is trusting. Faith is trusting without that experience even.
[8:59] Beyond our experience. We haven't seen God. You know, we have no actual proof that heaven exists. Has anybody been there?
[9:14] From here? I mean, if somebody would ask you to prove that heaven exists, how would you do it?
[9:28] Well, we just know, right? We've known that from little up. We just know heaven exists. Heaven's real. But isn't it by faith? We just know it because we have faith.
[9:41] We believe it. And therefore, we can trust. How do you prove that God exists?
[9:52] Now, that's a little easier, maybe, because, but again, it's by faith. We believe that those trees out there were created by God by faith.
[10:04] But a person that has no faith, they look at those trees and they don't know where they came from. How can I prove that God created them? I can go to the Bible, but what if he doesn't have any faith in the Bible?
[10:18] You see, faith is, you can't be a Christian without faith. I'm so glad this morning for the gift of faith that I can know through faith.
[10:30] I can know these things. I can believe them with all my heart and I know they're true because the Word of God is true.
[10:42] And we have also experienced God to a level. And that's, you know, we can trust him because of our experiences. We know that he's washed us.
[10:53] We know that he's filled us and he lives in us and on and on. But if we only trust him by our experience, then we're limited in this life. But if we have faith, what's the limit?
[11:09] What's the limit if we have true faith in our God? Without faith, we wouldn't have answers. But by faith, we believe and we know.
[11:26] Yes, I know that Jesus' blood makes the vilest sinner clean. That's by faith. But we can truly say, I know that.
[11:42] Have you come to faith? Has faith come to you? Might be the better question. Has God filled you with faith? We have been saved.
[11:57] We know that we have been saved. The Bible says we can know by his spirit. We know when you have been saved, you know it.
[12:09] When you have the Holy Spirit, you know it. I remember Brother Manny used to give the illustration of a young man ready to marry his wife and somebody would ask you, are you sure that you love her?
[12:33] How do you know? Do you know that you love God? Do you know that He loves you? If we can know that about each other, then how much more do we limit our faith by our experience?
[12:53] True faith goes beyond our experience. His Word, His written Word. Do we have faith in the Bible this morning?
[13:04] In Romans 5, verse 1, it says, I'm going to read about five verses here. Romans 5, 1, Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
[13:34] God. What a powerful verse. What a powerful word. I'm going to read that again in verse 2. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace.
[13:51] And in that we stand. We stand firm. We stand believing. We stand trusting. And we rejoice in this hope of glory by faith.
[14:06] And not only so, but we glory in, oh, there's this word, tribulations also. Knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not a shame because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
[14:32] Powerful verses about faith. So how should we live our lives if we have this faith available to us?
[14:43] Or do we stumble through life and by ourselves in our own power, in our own strength, no real resolve or purpose in our lives, no real resolve in our hearts.
[15:05] Speaking of resolve, that song that my wife picked, I Am Resolve, I was going to share but it was so good it was flowing without me sharing. But when I was a little boy in our little Amish school in Michigan, there was a man that came from another community, a school teacher, and he was a singer and he taught us that song and I'm telling you, I don't remember ever since hearing a man sing that song like he did.
[15:36] It almost brought a real revival to us. But I remember the youth in our church and our churches began to sing that song with a passion it seemed like.
[15:50] and so every time we sing that I think of I was probably 10 or 12 years old and that song ministered to me even though I didn't understand it fully, I didn't, but I just thought wow, there's something we can get a hold of.
[16:08] Love that song, that resolve. I am resolved. When I found Jesus I became resolved to follow him.
[16:20] It became real. Are you resolved this morning to follow him by faith with all your heart? Or do we lean on our own understanding?
[16:32] Paul here says that we have access into this grace by faith. Let us not trust in ourselves or in man but in his grace. His power.
[16:45] Let us seek him and press into this with all our hearts. Now I have some more verses here. In 1 Corinthians 2 verse 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power.
[17:06] that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Not in our own wisdom.
[17:17] I think that is one of the greatest downfalls or the greatest how would you say that causes of the greatest cause maybe of lacking in faith is our own wisdom.
[17:33] and not trusting in the power of God. A couple more verses in Romans. Romans 10.17 says So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing the word of God.
[17:47] And if that word is true that verse if that verse is true then how do we hear the word of God? Do you only hear it Sundays? Don't we need that word every day?
[18:05] If we're going to live by faith we should be in the word. Faith cometh by hearing. I mean it's not just preaching. It is preaching but it's also hearing from God.
[18:17] Being in the word. Meditating in the word. the Psalm 119 the heart of David in his desire to his endeavor to meditate and to focus on the word of God and in knowing him.
[18:40] Romans 14.23 says And he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith. And this is the saying I wanted was for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
[18:54] Did you get that? So is faith is having faith an option? Is it you know we make it optional. We kind of well I had faith yesterday but today I'm just going to kind of live on my own strength and I'm not going to really depend on God today I'm just busy.
[19:13] I'm not going to walk in faith today. Too busy. Too many things on my mind. I find myself in that place sometimes. Do you? Here it says that what is not of faith is sin.
[19:26] So if I go through the whole day and I haven't walked in faith and trust and focus whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
[19:40] If we're thinking of doing something tomorrow Sunday is a little easier to walk by faith right? what about Monday through Friday at work? But I'm going to do stuff tomorrow but I don't know if I'm going to have time to think about doing it by faith.
[20:02] Everything we do should be by faith in believing God and believing that God is in what I'm doing and doing it with all our might. In Acts we read about Stephen it says he was full of faith and power he did great wonders and miracles among the people.
[20:21] Are we a person that's full of faith? And because of that we have power. The power to live. Power to live above sin. Power to live according to his will.
[20:35] Proving his will. When Jesus said to his disciples I didn't write down who it was maybe you know or was it all of them or was it Peter that he said to forgive seven times I think it was Peter wasn't it?
[20:59] To forgive seven times but I assume the other disciples were there because they said the apostle said unto the Lord increase our faith.
[21:10] That looked so impossible he said seventy times seven and they just how do you do that? And so they knew they needed faith they said Lord increase our faith.
[21:23] Can we say that today? Lord increase our faith is that our heart as we think about our life our daily life Lord increase my faith I can't do it alone.
[21:43] And then the next verse Jesus said if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed you might say unto this sycamore tree be thou plucked up by the root and be thou planted in the sea and it should obey you.
[21:59] He's saying to them no problem you ask for more faith you can have it. You know you can do things you can just a little bit of faith is very powerful that's what he's saying not because of your faith but it's the faith in what in who the faith is in we're talking about almighty God a faith and a trust in the one who created all things nothing was created without him he created you and I you and me and it's a faith in him that is powerful it's not faith in itself it's not faith in me or faith in any other thing but we're talking about having faith in the
[23:05] Lord Jesus James said knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience has your faith been tested it is if if we've been tested if we've been going through trials or have gone through trials don't discourage but just realize that God wants your faith to become stronger there's many many things that take us through deep trials at times people go through suffering think of persecution and suffering for your faith and that's why when persecution comes to people their faith becomes stronger Christianity grows why is that it's because their faith is being tested and proven and they go deeper and they have more faith and it becomes stronger and as they have more faith they share more gospel and it just grows the more they try to stomp out
[24:16] Christianity true believers the more it grows it's because their faith is being tested but our faith is also tested many times even without physical persecution and faith is believing without wavering in James 1.6 but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed unstable ready to crash because we're wavering we're not we don't have faith but it says let him ask in faith not doubting Hebrews 12 verse 2 looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God looking unto
[25:20] Jesus the author and finisher of our faith letting him be in control of our faith and trusting him Hebrews 10 verse 22 it says this let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith let's do that let's do that draw near if we've been struggling with trusting God for everything and we want to look at some of those things but let us draw near with a true heart a full assurance God is looking for a faithful people and a people that trust him a people that live by faith there's also a lack of faith and we want to look at what that produces what is a lack of faith in 1st
[26:41] Timothy 5 8 it says but if any provide not for his own especially those of his own house he hath denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever so we see here that faith has action faith has action if I have faith I'm going to provide if I have faith in the Lord Jesus not only will I provide for my family physically their needs but also spiritually and especially as a father let that speak to us are we nurturing our precious little ones that God has given us many men will see the need to physically provide but what about spiritually what about emotionally and all the needs that young children have growing up now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils here it's very clear that we can depart from the faith that we once had many will depart from the faith in the last day we see that happening
[28:13] I thought you couldn't lose that faith I didn't think so but some people do here it says that many will depart from it and I say you can't depart from something that you didn't have Ephesians 317 that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love you know we talk a lot about love and being rooted and grounded but it's Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith there is no other argument there is no other thing to be rooted and grounded in that works other than
[29:14] Christ in our hearts Ephesians 312 I'm reading here in Ephesians these verses it says in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him again boldness that boldness is not it's not an arrogance kind of boldness but a confidence kind of boldness a trust a faith a non doubting kind of boldness we come to him in that way full assurance not doubting not you know Galatians 5 verse 6 for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love and in in first
[30:18] Corinthians 15 couple verses there and if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain see if Christ hadn't died and rose again our faith would be vain my preaching would be vain and here's another verse and if Christ be not raised your faith is vain and you are still in your sins if Christ hadn't risen our faith is vain our preaching is vain and we're still in our sins thank God for the resurrection the power of the resurrection when I look at a few people that had faith and you know how many times did
[31:20] Jesus when he was here he talked about faith he would talk to his disciples about faith often it was a rebuke it seemed like where's your faith you know when he stopped the winds and the waves and the storm they were just amazed and he seemed frustrated a few times with them for not having faith oh yea of little faith and now here we are as Christians and believers and saved people and I wonder what he'd say to us today what do you think Dan sometimes oh yea of much faith how would he bless us or would he challenge us in Matthew 9 chapter or chapter 9 verse 27 I want to read about the two blind men and when Jesus departed then then two blind men followed him crying and saying thou son of
[32:24] David have mercy on us and when he was come into the house the blind men came to him and Jesus saith unto them believe ye that I am able to do this they said unto him yea Lord then touched he their eyes saying according to your faith be it unto you and their eyes were open and Jesus straightly charged them saying see that no man know it according to your faith be it unto you how many times did he say that would he maybe say that to us this morning as we're going through life you might just say well according to your faith according to how much you trust in me is what you get if it's according to our faith if it's according to your faith how much of God do you get how much of his guidance his leading his blessing if it's based on my faith
[33:32] Matthew 8 here's another one verse 5 and when Jesus was entered into Capernaum there came unto him a centurion this is a military leader beseeching him and saying Lord my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy grievously tormented and Jesus saith unto him I will come and heal him the centurion answered and said Lord I am not worthy that thou should come under my roof but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed what an amazing what an amazing faith just I'm you're so great you're God you're so mighty I'm just not worthy to have you even in my house or under our roof but just say it and it'll be done it really touched the heart of
[34:44] God he goes on he says for I am a man under authority having soldiers under me and I say to this man go and he go and to another come and he cometh excuse me and to my servant do this and he do with it like just speak I just speak and they do it and so Jesus if you say be healed then because you're God I just believe that's what's going to happen when Jesus heard it he marveled and said to them that followed verily I say unto you I have not found so great faith no not in Israel and I say unto you that many shall come from the east and the west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth and
[35:46] Jesus said unto the centurion go thy way and as thou hast believed so be it done unto thee and his servant was healed in the same hour according to your faith and in Matthew 17 14 verse 14 and when they were come to the multitude there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him saying Lord have mercy on my son for he is a lunatic and sore vexed for oft times he falleth into the fire and oft into the water and I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him then said Jesus Jesus answered and said oh faithless and perverse generation how long shall I be with you how long shall I suffer you bring him hither to me and Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of the man and the child was cured from the very hour then then came to
[36:52] Jesus apart and said why could not we cast him out and Jesus said unto them because of your unbelief for verily I say unto you if ye have the faith as a grain of mustard seed ye shall say to this mountain remove hence and hence to yonder place and it shall be moved and nothing shall be impossible unto you how be it this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting faith trusting in the almighty you think the disciples just didn't quite well he said your unbelief you didn't believe where's our belief how deep is it how strong is it you know we should look at Hebrews 11 but we know
[37:56] Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter don't we why don't we just turn there I don't want to go too long or too late but we did get an early start kind of with the message yeah let's just read here some verses now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen for by it the elders obtained a good report through faith we understand that the worlds were framed and the word of God by the word of God so that things which were seen were not made of things which do appear by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain by faith we obtain witness that he was righteous
[38:59] God testifying of his gifts and by it he being dead yet speaketh he goes on he talks about the faith of Enoch how he was translated that he should not see death not be found because God translated him there's that verse six but without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him I was thinking about that verse this morning and sometimes we just read it and we kind of skip over it perhaps but believing that he is do we believe that God is we we know he exists but do we believe that he is do we believe that he is in everything that he is in every situation
[40:09] I should say do we go through life thinking well God's not really involved in this it's not involved in those little things like sweeping off the patio he is he speaks through those things God is in every situation and do we believe that he is that he is the I am and not only that do we believe that he is a rewarder of them he benefits us he blesses us he is a rewarder I don't know how to put it in a bigger word than that a rewarder of them that diligently seek him the problem is not that we don't get rewarded the problem is we don't diligently seek him like we should like we ought again a lack of faith and then by faith
[41:10] Noah by faith Abraham through faith Sarah and we could read all of it but it says here verse 13 these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth verse 16 says but now they desire a better country that is in heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared them for a city by faith
[42:11] Isaac blessed Jacob and and Esau concerning things to come by faith Jacob he blessed the sons of Joseph by faith Joseph you know we can just go on by faith Moses do we by faith bless our sons do we by faith bless our daughters that wasn't really part of the message there but it is now but do we by faith do these things trusting God for the results okay in Ephesians 6 I know there's been a lot of verses but we're getting down toward the end of those Ephesians 6 verse 16 above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked yes are we holding up our shield of faith or are we laying it off to the side it is our weapon against our enemy that shield of faith and are there darts do we have an enemy that is trying to destroy our faith are the enemy's darts hitting us and we're getting weaker we need to know the enemy's tactics we're not ignorant of his devices the shield of faith you know living in denial is not taking the shield of faith and doing battle against the enemy that wants to destroy us we have all these tools we have everything we need
[44:23] God made all the provisions for us and it's up to us to live a life of faith I have been very convicted in this area and Lord may you increase our faith Paul said I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith are we resolved to keep the faith fought a good fight are we fighting a good fight will our anchor hold through the storms of life is your anchor the true anchor or you have confidence in something other than Christ I was taught that yeah we need Christ we need Jesus but the anchor is not him the anchor is a system that keeps us there but
[45:25] I want to tell you this morning the anchor is him the anchor is Jesus he's the only one that will keep you from falling man has come up with all kinds of programs and systems and what they would call tested and proven things but they might have been tested but they're not proven only Christ is proven to be the true anchor our only hope to make it not only for salvation but to get us home to get us through this week is he your anchor the older I get the more I realize the importance of trusting God for everything here in
[46:27] America we are being taught to be self reliant or self sufficient we're so self sufficient you know we can make things work we're in a free economy in a free nation without all the persecution who have you thought this morning that somebody would come through the door and a government and would stop us from worshiping see we're so free we don't even it didn't cross my mind until just now that's not something I wake up thinking well today the authorities might come shut us down maybe when there's COVID they tried but as far as being against religion and persecution it barely exists in America so we've become self reliant too easily and self sufficient and we can control our lives and make so that things just happen on our own for the most part why walk by faith in
[47:34] God when I can do it all by myself raising a family making money there's just one problem that's a deception because you and I can't do it sure we can it'll look good it'll look right perhaps but it doesn't turn out right it only looks like you're achieving things on your own but only earthly things only on earthly things you and I cannot bring forth fruits for the kingdom of God on our own strength you know we know this right there's nothing new we know this but I needed to hear it again so I assume you do too if you want to be known as someone who is successful in earthly things
[48:37] God might allow you to be successful in that way but we know that it's all meaningless in the end it doesn't mean anything here are some of the areas that we should be exercising our faith in God and trusting him I want to look at a few points number one that I have here is raising our families having children if God blesses us with children because God is looking for a godly seed on this earth he's looking for a people of faith my note here just says so have children based on God's desire not your own have faith and trust him I know it's sometimes difficult when you think about the changes in our culture and life especially in our culture in the last 20 years 30 40 years some of us can remember way back
[49:53] I remember when cell phones didn't exist imagine that how did we communicate with each other but you look at the changes and then you think about the next 30 years or 20 years and having children is a scary thought it can be it can be overwhelming but that's just our thoughts that's not necessarily God's thought God is looking for a godly seed have faith trust him teach our children the things of God have them memorize the Bible you know we don't bother doing these things many times because we just lack it's maybe we're not necessarily lazy but we lack faith we lack I did I lack so much faith I say
[50:57] I did because I think I have more than I used to have but I needed more faith and I need more faith now you know people parents don't believe that there will be enough fruit to to really make a difference and that's a sin of unbelief I know some of you here are blessed and benefited greatly from your mothers and fathers teaching and helping you as children memorize the Bible but we must have more faith in raising our children for God don't ever think that it's not worth it this nurturing this developing a spiritual realization of who God is in our little children and what
[51:57] God is like what about our family members and friends that are not saved are we able to trust God for the lost the kind of faith that puts us into action right if we have faith then we won't neglect our part right we'll act upon it that's the kind of faith we need yes Lord increase our faith help us to reach out to those in our midst that have needs yes in our midst in our families then also the world around us that by faith in Christ he will draw all men to himself if we lift him up and we speak for Christ when we are called to do so church do we as a brotherhood do we trust God and believe that he Jesus is the head he is the head of his body do we believe that it is his will that we're part of this body those of us that attend here regularly do we believe it's the will of
[53:15] God if you don't maybe I mean I guess you have to leave I believe that you believe you're supposed to be here right unless he calls you somewhere else those are all just areas that yeah by faith I believe that's what God's will is we should have that we should have that confidence that assurance that we're in the will of God and then when we have that then we will also bring our gifts our talents your presence in the assembly do we give to the kingdom of God do we give financially even by faith is that by faith or well there's this thing in the Bible that I have to do it it's kind of hard but I give up are we excited because by faith we trust
[54:20] God for the results God this is yours it's a joy God loves a cheerful giver not a begrudging heart that yeah we give but it's kind of a law to us so we do it how about our work number four was work and business our livelihood do we daily live by faith and trust God not only to help us but to guide us and to give us wisdom beyond what is of man that is so important that what we do is heartily as unto the Lord and not just man's wisdom and I think I might have touched on that a little bit what about our future number five is our future do we trust God for our future you know we can't see our future and that's why people worry about it because we can't see it we don't know it but we as believers know who does we know that he knows and our faith is in him so why are we worried don't worry
[55:47] Jesus said do not worry don't be anxious for anything he knows he's in control and as his children he has our best in mind for us do we trust by faith in the love of God that he is able to keep everything that we commit to him so if we commit our future to him what better thing could we do there's nothing greater even in tragedy if it were to happen to us some of us have suffered loss loss of a child loss of parents friends things that we call tragedy right but God is still good and you know if he allowed it then it's actually not a tragedy hard to say those things when you're going through it but he is faithful and we can always trust him never doubt that don't doubt that
[56:58] I remember a preacher from Africa he always said that don't doubt that Keith Daniel used to say that a lot trusting God for our future today in North Carolina I believe they're burying a friend of ours that we know the family fairly well in fact he's a cousin of mine distant cousin Kenny Slabaugh 46 year old man and a husband and father that died this past week and Joe you guys know him is that a tragedy could be but if he was a believer which we believe he was I didn't know him personally that well but I know his family his sister for sure and we don't know the things that we face in life and I know that sometimes worry grips us you know what if
[58:12] I would die in this situation and what would my family do and we start thinking right what would my wife do well my children would take care of it well what if they die you see what I mean we start to not trust our Lord I want to turn to Psalm yet 139 read some very precious verses there and I would say too that if somebody's here that that is just really lacking in faith and and you've been struggling with this thing of trusting then just ask for prayer at least you know we're here to pray for one another right that are faith would become deeper and that it would spring up in our hearts because
[59:22] Jesus is worthy of our trust he wants our trust he wants that more than we want it that's what he's looking for that's why faith is so precious to him it exalts him it lifts him up to where he's supposed to be in our lives and he has all the answers we need to stop leaning on our own understanding psalm 139 says oh lord thou has searched me and known me thou has thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising thou understand my thought afar off thou compass compasses my path and my laying down and are acquainted with all my ways for there is not a word in my tongue but oh lord lo oh lord thou knowest it all together let those words speak to us and minister to us thou has beset me behind and before and laid thine hand upon me such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high
[60:36] I cannot attain unto it this is David speaking I believe or writing whither shall I go from thy spirit and whither shall I flee from thy presence if I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me if I say surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be a light about me even those dark things those dark nights yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkness in the light are both alike to thee of course he is the light for thou has possessed my reins thou has covered me in my mother's womb
[61:40] I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth that my soul knoweth right well my substance was not hid from thee but I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance are fashioned when as yet there was none of them how precious also are thy thoughts unto me oh God how great is the sum of them if I should count them they are more in number than the sand when I awake I am still with thee you know those are words that are so amazing the number of
[62:51] God's great thoughts toward you more than the sand how precious are thy thoughts you know God is a God that we can trust where's our faith in him this great God I had mentioned the lack of faith couple things yet the lack of faith will produce bad fruit it'll produce trust in yourself trust in that old nature and that old nature can't have faith it's the new nature it'll produce the lack of faith will produce pride arrogance in yourself but true faith in him the one we just read about will bring humility it'll bring brokenness it'll bring assurance and confidence faith trust love the lack of faith will bring selfishness self centeredness it'll bring a neglect or a neglecting of things that are critically important in our life the lack of faith will like being in the word and being in prayer nurturing our children in the
[64:23] Lord missing opportunities that God lays before us serving like we heard this morning in the devotional serving and blessing each other by faith it'll the lack of faith will make those things not happen so let all things be done by faith this morning as I was preparing for this I'll just share this yet I had a real burden just for myself in this and I don't know I just had a burden for you parents that have younger children and the need for having faith we all need it but when your children are young it's especially important and those were none of my thoughts but they came and as
[65:28] I looked behind my desk there was a picture of my three sons when they were little guys and we were fishing they probably don't remember it Tony might but we were out fishing by a neighbor's pond and I just looked at that picture and Justin just this little guy about that big his fishing poles and Tony might have been ten or eleven I don't know and I just began weeping because because their faces were so innocent and I feel like I had so little faith I feel like I was so busy many of the things I just preached weren't reality and yet then I thought you know in spite of all that they're all sitting here men of faith they believe in God they trust him not perfect but in spite of that
[66:51] God saved them but what could it have been if I just had faith deep faith and let that faith produce action in my life that I could have done so much more I could have been so much more not saying that we didn't believe or weren't believers but we were just we had faith in Christ but where I lacked was daily living part really believing God believing that it was critically important to teach the word to them and to be sold out on a daily walk just that picture spoke everything to me I remember taking it never thought I would speak to me like this but will you look back someday on your children and realize the opportunities you missed
[68:02] I had to deal with that today or can we look back with joy and say Lord thank you for that faith you've given me so it's not too late it's not even too late for me God gives us opportunity he grows us up as you trust him but I want my faith to increase and together we walk by faith lot to take good