Participants: Gordon Arruda (Host)
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000282
|
00:31 Hello, welcome once again to Faith Chapel.
00:35 My name is Gordon Arruda head elder of the Roseville 00:37 Seventh-Day Adventist church. Today's topic is called the 00:42 miracle of faith. I cant imagine talking about the gospel of 00:45 Jesus Christ and not mentioning faith. Faith is something that 00:52 is often misunderstood but when we understand it from the 00:56 scriptures I hope it will become clear and you will see it for 00:59 what it is truly, a miracle from God. Everybody has 01:05 belief systems, core beliefs. As a matter of fact our beliefs 01:10 really determine in how we live life, how we think, and even 01:16 are the foundation of opinions and assumptions we hold dear. 01:22 Often these beliefs are the result of events or how we 01:27 experience life even all the way back to our earliest childhood. 01:31 Many of the events are hurtful sometimes we maybe had an 01:36 incident at school that was humiliating. Maybe there was a 01:39 period of time where your friends abandoned you. All these 01:43 events have a definite impacted a significant impacted on your 01:48 heart and through these events or the trauma of these events 01:52 we formed core beliefs. Beliefs about how we view life 01:57 what we think about people, what we think about authority, about 02:03 school, about work, even what we believe about God but all these 02:09 notice are based on how our fallen nature has experienced 02:13 life and so all the belief systems that we developed 02:17 are based on our fallen nature. Biblical faith is not like this. 02:23 Its unique. It is originated from heaven and it is not the 02:29 result of human attainment. It doesn't originate with man's 02:33 intellect, it originates with God. Lets open the study by 02:39 looking first into the book of Hebrews 11 02:58 This is a very significant statement. It says that faith 03:02 not only perceives the evidence of God but it says faith 03:08 is the evidence of things not seen. That is the very fact 03:14 that faith is present is in itself the evidence that 03:21 something significant has happened. When someone comes 03:25 to belief in the gospel what he is experiencing is the evidence 03:33 of a super natural power at work within his heart. I remember 03:38 when I first came to believe in Jesus Christ as my personal 03:42 savior. I remember that night very distinctly my conversion 03:47 put what amazed me is that as the gospel was being presented 03:52 to me something deep inside me was opening up something very 03:57 deep inside me that I had never experienced before I had never 04:01 been there before within myself and what amazed me above 04:07 everything is that I was actually coming to believe 04:11 and grasping and embarrassing what the minister was talking 04:16 about. I was almost to the point where I couldn't even believe 04:22 that I was believing that's how profound it was this is because 04:26 the carnal nature does not have the capacity to believe in the 04:30 gospel because the carnal mind is only interested in sustaining 04:35 itself in its own selfish ways but God in His mercy and through 04:41 the power of the gospel is able to come and awaken the human 04:45 heart to faith with is a power that is from Him alone. 04:51 Romans 10 says it very interesting. 05:13 Notice the first thing this verse says is that faith 05:18 comes. Comes from where? It can only be one answer, faith comes 05:25 from God. When faith comes from God it follows and it says 05:33 faith it comes by hearing. The hearing from deep within the 05:40 soul is not so much an audible hearing. Jesus described it 05:46 when He said My sheep hear My voice and they know me. 05:50 The hearing is the way in which the human spirit responds to the 05:56 message of the gospel. When it says faith comes by hearing it 06:04 comes from God and it comes to us as we hear it. Hearing is the 06:09 response that the Holy Spirit provokes in order to open our 06:14 hearts to the next thing. Faith comes by hearing and hearing 06:19 by what? The word of God. It is the word of God. In John 1 06:28 it says Jesus is the word. He is the living word. The word of 06:34 God is the explanation and the clarification of the character 06:40 of God. Its living and active. Its spirit and it speaks to the 06:47 human heart. It describes a person that we have been 06:53 alienated from and endears our heart to Him. When we 07:00 hear the word it is the evidence that faith is beginning to take 07:06 root and awaken us and then enable us to accept and receive 07:12 it as something we believe. Faith comes by hearing and 07:18 hearing by the word. The Bible the written word is man's 07:25 articulation or an expression in human language on what the 07:30 living word has impressed upon his mind. The actual word itself 07:35 originates from God and it always goes forth with the 07:40 intent to deliver a truth that will set us free to enlighten 07:45 the mind of His heart and how He feels about us. To point us 07:51 to Christ as the perfect demonstration and clarification 07:54 on who God is and that's why the Bible calls Christ the living 07:59 word. It is this word the message in the gospel that 08:05 has the ability to awaken deep within the human spirit faith. 08:11 It is the only message in the world that has within it the 08:16 power to awaken an individual to believe in the very message 08:23 that's presented. Its called the seed of the gospel planted there 08:28 and ready to grow and so this issue of faith is not something 08:33 that can originate from a human heart its not something that 08:37 comes when we try to believe its not something that can be done 08:41 as we exert the will, its not even something that can 08:46 happen as we accumulate more knowledge because this faith 08:50 does not begin or is not planted in the human intellect. It 08:53 goes far deeper than that. It is planted in the human spirit. 08:57 It definitely affects the intellect as a matter of fact 09:01 it so profoundly affects the intellect it can change and does 09:05 change everything that we think it changes our opinions, it 09:10 changes even our perspective in how we view things. It changes 09:14 the way we see God. That's what the gospel is supposed to do. 09:18 Its supposed to bring faith to our hearts so that we can 09:23 embrace the truth of heaven and the power of heaven. Praise God 09:28 that He didn't leave it up to us and the efforts of our 09:30 attainment to try to believe good enough in order to 09:35 receive Him or to accept Him into our life. I'd like to turn 09:40 now to Hebrews 12 10:11 Did you catch what it says here about faith? 10:13 Faith is authored by Christ Himself. He is the faithful 10:21 and true witness. His life was characterized by faith. 10:27 He lived by trusting in His Father implicitly. From the 10:32 moment He came into the world His life was always looking 10:36 towards God and away from self. This is what faith does. So 10:42 when the Holy Spirit brings the life of Christ to us it brings 10:46 along with it the faith of Jesus This is why the Holy Spirit 10:50 is empowered to awaken us to believe because we receive it 10:55 from above. Notice it also says that Jesus is not only the 10:59 author of our faith but He is the finisher of our faith. 11:05 Everything that God creates or everything that God plants 11:09 He also causes to grow. He not only causes it to grow but He 11:14 sustains everything He creates and everything plants. 11:18 So He is the sustainer as well as the one that provides the 11:24 growth faith needs to grow. A child of faith is a precious 11:29 thing full of inocense full of wonder but ultimately 11:34 Christ wants to take that faith and ground it into something 11:38 far deeper than something we can feel or experience because faith 11:45 is of God it has nothing to do with our carnal nature. Before 11:52 the new birth experience everything we believed in 11:56 was based on how we experienced the world and what we learned 12:00 from the world that's where we got our information that's what 12:03 we processed and that's what belief and core systems were 12:08 based on and also the way we experience life. Often times 12:12 those belief systems are in accurate or scued because they 12:17 are based on our carnal natures response and reactions to how 12:21 life has dealt with us. When faith comes its not of our lower 12:27 nature. Faith comes from God. So when it is born deep within our 12:32 hearts faith has no respect or has no concern about what has 12:39 happened to us in the past. Its life and its view point its 12:47 focus is on the one who gave it to us and that's God. So faith 12:52 working within our lives generates a power, what it does 12:58 it captures the soul because it believes in God and then 13:03 starts directing the soul to God as the soul is being directed to 13:11 God another thing the soul needs to do simultaneously it turns 13:17 away from the reason and the wisdom of our carnal nature. 13:19 that was built up from our life of the past. So faith has 13:26 this powerful capacity to pull the soul away from the life 13:32 of the past, a life of sin, and turn it in focus on the life of 13:38 God. Faith will always generate and direct our lives to God 13:44 This is really the foundation and the evidence of true 13:48 biblical faith. Faith never looks within. Faith never looks 13:52 to what you can do. Faith never ponders the what ifs. 13:57 Faith always is grounded on what God has done, what God has 14:02 promised to do and the assurance that He will perform it. 14:06 Because faith is born of God it is not subjected to the 14:12 elemental things of the world as it works through our flesh 14:15 nature. This is why Satan so fears the faith of a believer. 14:21 Its because faith is the way in which we are saved from 14:27 ourselves and saved from the world. Lets notice what it says 14:31 in 1 John 5 14:52 I think when we look at faith in the light of what we've just 14:55 discussed we can see now why faith over comes the world. 15:00 Satan can do nothing against a person whose faith is anchored 15:05 and grounded in the accomplishments in the life of 15:08 Jesus Christ it is Jesus who has overcome the world. Faith just 15:13 anchors us in that life and will not let go. In the process of 15:19 maturing our faith God allows tests and adversity to come into 15:25 our life. What this does is it agitates the old way in which 15:29 we have responded to the stresses and the challenges of 15:33 life. It my provoke anger, judgment, fear, jealousy, 15:39 whatever it may do faith is the place in which we can now 15:46 pull back from the works and the responses of our carnal nature 15:50 and see it for what it is. The works of the flesh. This is the 15:56 area where the world has power over us where ultimately Satan 16:01 can manipulate and exploit us. Have you ever noticed that Satan 16:05 always like to bring up your past to bring to you again and 16:10 again reintroducing to you things that really used to bring 16:13 you down from the past? Things that used to tempt you 16:17 into doing things that you now don't want to do? 16:21 That's because those are all things that the carnal nature 16:24 experienced before you experienced the new birth. 16:27 But faith turns us away from that and counts it as nothing 16:33 and useless. The fallen nature has no contribution to our 16:38 walk with Jesus Christ but as we continue to believe and have 16:44 faith and turn our hearts to God and anchor our souls in His 16:50 truth and in His might His accomplishments faith is 16:54 strengthened faith becomes the dominate force within our souls 16:59 Faith teaches us how to focus what to behold what to love 17:06 what to hold on to and it also teaches us what to let go of. 17:11 And what to find useless in our lives faith gives us perspective 17:16 a spiritual perspective to things where are carnal senses 17:20 do not give us that perspective We see things in the 17:25 circumstances we're in and react to that so easily sometimes 17:29 its overwhelming and intimidating but what does faith 17:33 do? Faith discounts the circumstances because it 17:38 orientates the soul to God and when the soul is orientated to 17:42 God, God then becomes larger than life which He surely is. 17:46 And there is where peace and assurance comes from. This is 17:50 why faith is so powerful its because it has the ability to 17:54 arrest us and plant our souls into the power and the life of 17:59 Jesus Christ. Isn't that exactly where Satan does not want us to 18:04 go? And so Satan fears our faith he is afraid that you are going 18:12 to believe. He is afraid that faith will take such hold of 18:17 your heart that there is nothing he can do that will get you 18:20 away from Jesus Christ. Faith is a powerful thing because it is 18:26 born of God. I praise Him the way He has tempered my faith 18:32 tried it in fire, oh brothers and sisters, many times things 18:37 from the past especially when I'm at a low point when setbacks 18:40 happen in my life such a temptation to go back and 18:44 utilize all the old coping mechanisms and how I used to 18:47 deal with stress getting angry blaming, passing judgment on 18:53 people these are all things we used to do in our responses 18:56 to adversity always trying to justify yourself maybe going 19:01 into escaping and into addictions whatever they may be 19:05 but faith, oh praise His name, faith directs our souls to God. 19:13 and that is exactly where Satan does not want us to go. 19:17 Faith is that which overcomes the world and that is 19:23 why Satan is afraid of Him. I encourage you so much to keep 19:28 your heart and mine in the word of God. Let your prayer life be 19:32 one free from condemnation and fear and let faith take hold 19:37 as we behold the living son of God. Jesus is at work through 19:43 the Holy Spirit to not only author our faith but to perfect 19:47 it and complete it until the day of His coming. He's faithful 19:51 in this work, He's faithful in this charge, He will not let you 19:55 go but He is determined to transform your faith in Christ 20:00 but to be the faith of Christ that's how the Bible describes 20:06 the remnant in Revelation having the faith of Jesus. When that 20:11 happens to the people of God they become sealed and unmovable 20:16 because they are no longer acting or responding to how the 20:20 flesh nature knows or experiences the world around 20:24 them. Their hearts are settled into Jesus Christ Himself 20:27 He guides them and strengthens them and their faith seals them 20:32 in the Holy Spirit and prepares to have them stand in the last 20:36 days when the tribulation comes Notice in a book by my favorite 20:43 author called Great Controversy she says that in the last days 20:47 when God allows Satan to attack His people to the uttermost 20:52 Satan goes and attacks our faith that is where the battle is 20:57 that is where the crutch of the whole matter is because Satan 21:02 knows as our faith grows and is grounded and is strengthened 21:06 and then becomes unmovable he's lost us and when he looses us 21:12 his end is near. I'm praising God today for the faith that 21:17 He has brought into my heart. I don't know what I would do 21:21 in a life without faith. I know what I was doing before 21:25 and I wasn't living life, I was just surviving it I would always 21:30 fall back on my coping mechanisms and trying to deal 21:33 with my everyday life in a way that was just totally 21:36 unrealistic. I didn't foster good relationships it didn't 21:40 foster anything healthy it just took me on a downward spiral 21:45 that was going to lead me into oblivion. I didn't know it at 21:50 the time I thought life was pretty good but looking back 21:53 at it now I can see what was going on in my heart. I thank 21:57 God for the way He has saved me I thank God that He put within 22:02 my heart this miracle that enabled me to believe in Him 22:05 and I will always praise Him for the work that He was doing in my 22:09 heart. I want this to be your experience too. I ask that 22:14 you hear very clearly what the word is telling you. I ask you 22:18 that you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking the truth 22:22 of Jesus Christ to your heart as we behold Him in His glory 22:27 in the glory of the gospel in His humility in His act of 22:32 service in His way in which He offered Himself to be the 22:38 sacrifice for your sins to behold that is to expose your 22:42 heart to the miracle of faith. The Holy Spirit will be present 22:47 to plant that seed within you time and time again often times 22:52 we find our faith slipping its because we are slipping into our 22:56 carnal nature that has no faith. Our carnal nature will only 23:02 respond to this world to the pressures and influences of our 23:07 life. That's why we need to turn our hearts to listen to the word 23:13 that Jesus loves you. Even in the mist of our trials and of 23:17 your temptations in the last days this is where Satan will 23:22 attack you. He'll attack you through your feelings even 23:26 through your thinking praise God that faith is not a result of 23:29 our intellectual thinking, thank God that He's not the produced 23:35 of an emotional response but faith does heavenly influence 23:39 the intellect and it does heavily influence our emotions 23:43 What faith does because it plants us in Christ it sets in 23:47 motion proper avenues of channels and thinking 23:50 it gives to us feelings and emotions that spring from a 23:54 Godly influence and so faith connects us to a life that has 24:00 the ability to completely turn our life around even the way we 24:04 relate and interact with our everyday life and how we 24:07 experience people in our life faith is powerful, faith Jesus 24:14 says can move mountains and so it does it already has moved a 24:18 mountains of doubt in my heart I don't care what the world says 24:23 anymore, I only care what Jesus has to say to me. I know Him 24:27 now to be the truth I know Him now to be my life and I know 24:32 Him now to be a precious and tender savior. He has never 24:36 lied to me, He has always been faithful to me and He will never 24:40 leave me and when we get to the point when even where it seems 24:46 everything around us has betrayed us we have that rock 24:50 on which to set our heart upon and faith is the way in which 24:55 we hold on and will not let go Oh I will never allow Satan 25:00 to take my faith away because I will always allow my soul to 25:04 feast upon the bread of life. Faith then turns my heart 25:09 and causes me to do something that I never had the ability to 25:14 do before and that is to see things and experience life 25:18 apart from my carnal nature and my own way of thinking 25:21 Faith enters me into new frontiers I would never 25:24 venture before. It gives me the courage to explore avenues 25:30 on things that I should do, new responsibilities that I 25:34 used to shy away from. Its given me courage to face life and live 25:38 and live life the way God intended it. And because of that 25:41 its given me the ability to grow my relationship with all of my 25:47 friends and especially my family has been because of my 25:50 faith in Jesus Christ. This is why faith being the miracle it 25:55 is cannot be ignored this is why the Christian faith 25:59 and religion is based on faith its because its the only element 26:03 its the only function in the human soul that can truly hold 26:07 fast to a truth and to a power that is above and beyond 26:11 ourselves. Faith does not believe in self. Faith does not 26:17 trust in your capacities or in your talents faith doesn't care 26:22 how smart you are it doesn't even care how much you know 26:27 about the Bible. You know we can read the Bible and we can gather 26:32 the information that the Bible tells us but a faith isn't 26:36 present it does not have the power to transform and it 26:41 doesn't have the power to inspire a deeper faith. The Holy 26:46 Spirit needs to be present in our reading so that we not only 26:50 feed the mind we feed the human spirit and our faith grows 26:54 through a deepening of our understanding of Jesus Christ 26:57 and so I leave to you today the thought that faith comes from 27:02 God and God so much wants to plant that seed of faith in your 27:06 heart. Listen to the truth as He explains Himself to you 27:11 either through somebody talking to you or through reading it in 27:15 His word the Bible. Faith comes by hearing and as you hear the 27:20 word the faith will come. God will see to that and He will 27:26 make sure that you will not stumble. Thank you so much 27:29 for listening today. I want to pray and thank God for the 27:36 insight He's given us. Jesus thank you for faith 27:39 where would we be without it we look to Jesus as the author and 27:43 finisher of everything that happens to us. Be with us now 27:47 now and forevermore in your precious name. Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17