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"FAITH"
How important is your faith to you?
Jesus Christ
Greatest King in History, Jesus.
Had no servants, yet they called Him Master.
Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.
Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.
Had no army, yet kings feared Him.
Won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.
Committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.
He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
What did Martin Luther King's Faith have to do with what he accomplished in his life?
Answer: Everything!
Without faith he would not have done what he set out to do, the obstacles that got in his way would have stopped him with out the faith that he had in his dream that was obviously from God!
How is your personal faith in God?
- Strong
- Luke warm
- Cold
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Where is your faith?
Who is Jesus?
Is Jesus God? He is God, if you believe what the Bible says about him. Most of the passages are in John.
John 8:19,58;10:30;11:25; 14:6-21, 28; 16:28; 17:11,22-23 all allude to Christ as God. Add to that, Mark 12: 35-36, Luke 10:18, Matt 22:41-45 and 24:44.
Who is the Holy Spirit? The handout does not discuss the Holy Spirit in much detail. Please also examine a draft of Chapter 2 of my book, still being written. In it there is a more detailed discussion of the Holy Spirit, and who He is. (Note that when we discuss the Holy Spirit, we don’t refer to an “it”.)
Jesus is God!
People who do not accept the premise that Jesus is God are in serious trouble. The Gospel of John is very clear about who Jesus is. Read John 1:1-14. Check out the passages of John given above, where Jesus says who he is. Read John 12:44-50. God made a man out of himself and came down to dwell among us. He became a mortal man and lived as Jesus the man for a short time, and therefore temporarily became subservient to his creator. As a man he said what God the father told him to say. He lived as a man, he suffered as a man, and died as a man. When he rose from the dead, he became God again, as he was in the beginning! Jesus, as the pre-incarnate Christ even appeared in the Old Testament as a person of God. Read Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 49:1-4. There are other passages.Warning!
John 3:16-19 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Note that Jesus said people who believe in Him shall have eternal life. Sure, you’ll have eternal life all right. But what kind of eternal life will you have? Where will you spend it? In none of the translations do we see “heaven” mentioned in John 3:16. We must not only believe in God, we must believe what God says! So what does God say? Remember John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We are to believe what God says in his word. Even demons believe in God, but shudder at the prospect of spending eternity in hell (James 2:19)
Jesus said (John 14:6): “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If we believe what he says, people in these pseudo-Christian religions will not be with the Father in Heaven when they die.
We are to believe what he says, and follow him!
How do we do that? He says we are to keep these commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matt 22:37-40)
How do you love God?
He’s a spirit. We can’t put our arms around him and give him a hug. He tells us how. Read John 14:15-21. Jesus says in verse: “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
He spoke this to the Pharisees: (from John 5) I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?
We can paraphrase his words to describe the lack of faith?
Of the so-called Christians who do not believe Jesus is God: They have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in them, for they do not believe the one he sent. They diligently study the Scriptures because they think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet they refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept praise from men, but I know them. I know that they do not have the love of God in their hearts. I have come in my Father's name, and they do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, they will accept him. How can they believe if they accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?
They did not accept the God of the Bible, but they accept those who came in their own name, and who are now dead. Christianity is the only religion whose founder is still alive. Jesus was murdered, but he rose again from the dead, and walked the earth for forty days, seen by over 500 people, and ate meals with his disciples before he returned to heaven. As he lives in heaven he still serves his people through his Holy Spirit even today, dwelling within us and provides us with awesome power if we decide to use it.
Do not reject his words!
He said in John 12:48, that he who rejects me will be condemned at the last day. Who is it that rejects him? It is the people that do not believe what he says about himself, or what the prophets say about him. They reject him as their Messiah. Since they reject him, who is the source of the Holy Spirit (the Holy Spirit is the Counselor mentioned in John 16:7), they do not receive the Holy Spirit. They can not even admit who the Holy Spirit is. They will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Read Matthew 7:21-23, which says, not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, and Matt 10:32-33, which says whoever disowns Him will be disowned.
How about you? How is your faith?
If you are tested, will you reject him? Can Christians lose their salvation? You can be sure of your salvation. In private prayer, just confess your sinful nature to him, completely surrender yourself to him, and love him as he implores you in John 14:21. Then you can be assured that you are saved, because according to John 10: 28-29, He knows his sheep and his sheep know him, and no one can snatch his sheep from his hand, even though our sinful nature causes us to sin again and again. He says that twice, so you know he means it.
If you’re not sure?
Don't expose yourself to the sermons and arguments of non-Christian “church” organizations, lest you find yourself rejecting the Holy Spirit, by subscribing to their religious beliefs. Read Matt 10:32-33 (whoever disowns him will be disowned), and Matt 12:30-32, Mark 3:28-29, and Luke 12:10, all of which say that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Jesus says that any and all of our sins are forgiven except for sinning against the Holy Spirit. In Acts 5:1-11, Ananias and Sapphira found that out when they lied to the Holy Spirit about the amount of money they promised to give to the early Christian ministry, and they both dropped dead. Don’t jeopardize yourself by displeasing the Holy Spirit.
If you are sure, you can tell them what you believe?
In fact, knowing they are unsaved, it is your duty to witness to them if you are able. (See Matt 28:18-20 and 1 Peter 3:15-16.) You must have a memorized statement of belief that you can use. A simple one sentence statement about your personal belief and how Christ has changed your life is best. You can borrow phrases about Christ from the Apostle’s creed (page 183 of the handout) or even better, the Athanasian creed (page 184 of the handout). The Athanasian Creed includes a very complete description of the Holy Trinity and expressly covers a detailed explanation of the belief that Jesus is God. Athanasius was a famous Christian leader in 400 AD, who reasoned out who Jesus actually is, and convinced the fledgling Christian congregations of the absolute deity of Christ. There was a guy named Arius who believed that Christ was a lesser person than God himself, but Athanasius succeeded in convincing the Christian congregations of the equality of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
If your non-Christian friends want to talk with you about their faith?
And say they believe the same as you, ask them, “Do you believe Jesus is God?” If they say, “No, but ---“, interrupt and tell them, “I’m sorry, I believe Jesus is equally God, and therefore I have a different religion than you.” You can add a few more words about your faith if you have a memorized spiel about it. But then change the subject or discontinue the conversation. I can tell you from experience that this question works to easily find out that their beliefs are not Christian. Please don’t allow yourself to get into an argument about the issue, they will probably be too persistent and too versed in what to say to you. You’re not going to convert them, the Holy Spirit will have to do that, but you may have planted a seed of doubt about their own beliefs, by expressing your own faith.
False Religions are discussed!
In 2 Corinthians 11:1-6, 13-15, 1 Timothy 6:20-21, and Heb 13:9. Those that imitate Christianity, by changing or adding to the Bible, are condemning themselves according to Revelation 22:18-19. Numbers 13:26 to 14:38 describe the fate of men who decided to change the prophecies of God, and refused to enter and occupy the land that was promised to them. They all suffered the plagues mentioned in Rev 22:18-19 and died shortly after returning to the land they explored. Be very careful that you develop a trust in his words, believe what he says and decide to go his way rather than your own way, lest you anger God and have to suffer his wrath at the day of judgment. God said that we should endure patiently, keeping His Word, and He will keep us from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole earth to test those who live on the earth. (Rev 3:10)
Written by: Charlie Evans
