Welcome back to
Books of the Book.
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We have been in the book of
Galatians and we are studying
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about the hearing of faith.
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In Galatians 3 the
apostle Paul talks about how the
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Galatians had been obedient
while they had the hearing of
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faith but they turned from
that to the works of the law.
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Jim you had said before
the break where you went to
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Romans 23:23 where it's said
the faith establishes a law.
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Now I want us to look at
an interesting passage in
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the book of Romans 1:5.
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It depends on which
translation that you are reading
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whether you will pick it up
right away, but the language
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of this is very interesting
in the original language and
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it is expressed in
different versions.
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I'm reading in the new
King James Romans 1:5 and the
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apostle Paul is talking about
the Gospel of Christ and in
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verse five he says,
"through him" speaking of Jesus,
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" we have received grace
and apostleship for obedience to
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"the faith among all
nations for His name, among whom
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"you also are the called of
Jesus Christ;" and he goes on.
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Now what this
translation does not bring out,
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but for example if you were
to read it in the King James
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Version or in the English
Standard Version for example
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it says, "for the
obedience of faith. "
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The NIV says, the
NIV actually says,
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the obedience that
comes from faith, and that is
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the sense that is
given in the original.
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So the idea being conveyed
from the apostle there is
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that obedience is a result
of faith, that actually faith
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exercising your
faith is obedience.
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Obedience is simply
the exercise of faith.
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Right, so obedience is evidence
of faith, true obedience
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that goes from the inside
and finds its way into your
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outer life. - that's
right it is true there is an
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outward obedience that you
can render from the heart of
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Bible faith is a
living principle in the life
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of a Christian
that responds to God.
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That is right,
that is right Amen.
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Well it makes me think
about, when you talk about the
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hearing of faith
in Romans chapter 10.
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Because in Romans 10:17
it says "that faith comes by
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"hearing and hearing
by the word of God. "
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The component of faith
that we need to remember is that
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a lot of talk
about how I have faith.
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I'm a person of faith, but
if we just have faith meaning
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we believe certain things
about God, if we do certain
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things because we think
it is what would be the right
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thing to do, that is
not necessarily faith.
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Faith is responding to
the word and if we want faith
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we have to be in the word.
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We have to understand the
word, to see the God that is
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revealed through the word
and that is ultimately what
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gives us the faith.
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Faith exercised it's
believing in the promises of God
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and responding to them.
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Now there is another
aspect of faith that we need to
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look at too and I thought
maybe we can look at it in
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Hebrews 11:6 it says
something very interesting about
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Faith. It says, "but
without faith it is impossible
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to please Him, for he who
comes to God must believe that
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He is, and that He is
a rewarder of those of
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who diligently seek Him. "
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Now this is a very
powerful verse that helps us to
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understand that God wants
us to diligently seek Him.
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If we diligently seek
Him, He will reward us.
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Faith is believing that
God will reward you when
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you diligently seek
Him, not halfheartedly but if
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we put our heart into it,
that is what faith requires
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then we will find Him.
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You do remember
Jeremiah says that.
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If you seek Me you will
find Me when you search for Me
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with all your heart.
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So we have to recognize
that faith isn't something that
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just comes easy
or naturally per se.
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Faith always has obstacles,
in fact if something is
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humanly possible and
seems very easy humanly,
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it doesn't require faith.
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Faith is always something
that we have a principle
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that overcomes obstacles.
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Faith is believing
that God can overcome the
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impossibilities of life
and the reality Jim is that
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faith only exist in the
realm of the impossible.
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If you are in the realm
of the possible what is faith
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needed for? You could see
everything but the Bible says
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we walk by faith and not by
sight, it contrasts the two.
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So faith is dependent on
those impossible situations and
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the problem I think is that
there are too many Christians
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who want to live in
the realm of the possible.
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That is where we find the
rub with the law of God because
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when you put the law of God
is an impossibility for man,
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unless he has the power of
God, and it becomes a rub for
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those who do not want
to receive that new birth
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experience. They want to
have their proverbial cake
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and eat it too.
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If I might say it, what
they are doing is they are
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living in, what we
call, a comfort zone.
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So many Christians they live
in a comfort zone even though
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God may be calling them
to this variety of areas,
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if they have weaknesses in
these areas they will avoid
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them and stay
within their comfort zone.
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That is what the works of
the law also mentally does.
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It causes us to feel confident
in that we are okay with
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this and that
substitutes for that.
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So we need to be able to
see that those impossible areas
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that God is calling us
in, those are the ones that
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test and require faith.
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I can think of some Bible
examples when you really look
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at the life of Christ you
see it full of examples of
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living faith and I'm
thinking of one right now
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with the paralytic.
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You remember there was a
paralytic where four friends
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took him to Jesus
for him to be healed.
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When they got to the house
where Jesus was, it was full
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of people, there
was the obstacle.
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They could have just
turned around and gone home,
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but they climbed up on the
Roof, they tore up the tiles,
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sounds pretty radical.
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They tore the tiles of
the roof and they lowered
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him down and the Bible
said when Jesus saw their faith,
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how was it that
He saw their faith?
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Jesus saw that they had
such confidence in Him that they
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were not going to let any
obstacle stand in their way.
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They were going to
go straight to Jesus.
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Then there is the story
that comes to mind of blind
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Bartimaeus, here is a man
who was on the side of the road
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and he is crying out, he
hears Jesus coming his way.
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He said son of David
have mercy on me and the crowd
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tells him to pipe down.
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The Christian crowd tells
him to pipe down because he is
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making too much noise and
so there you have the obstacle.
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Here he is a blind man
and he doesn't know how to get
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to where he is going.
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He has this crowd milling
around, but when they tell him
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to be quiet the Bible
says he cries all the more.
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When he cried all the more
and pushed beyond that barrier
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then we see his Faith rewarded
in Jesus and He heals him.
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We see a similar
story with Zacchaeus.
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Zacchaeus wants to see
Jesus and the Christian crowd
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around Jesus was too
tall and some people say it is
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Zacchaeus could not see
Jesus and so what does he do?
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- he could have gone
home. - he could have gone home
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it said there was no way I
will ever be able to make it
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to Jesus, but instead he
presses through and goes ahead
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actually gets himself up
in a tree so he could just
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happen to see Jesus come by.
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And Jesus sees his act of
faith and calls him down and
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says this day salvation
has come to your house.
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Amen, I can think of the
story to a woman who had a flow
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of blood, for all she had
she tried to find healing.
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She went to every
physician she could find and
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she spent all her
livelihood and still nothing.
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Well she heard that
Jesus was coming through town.
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Jesus was her only hope
and she went to see Jesus and
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guess what she
ran into? An obstacle!
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The crowd was too big
and she couldn't get to Him.
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She thought to herself if
I can only fight through and
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reach the hem of His
garment I will be healed.
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So she reaches the end and
grabs the hem of His garment
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and Jesus stops on
the spot and He says,
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who touched Me? Of
course the disciples were like
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what are you talking
about? Everybody's touching and
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they are bumping up against you.
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He said no I perceived
virtue gone out for Me.
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Who touched Me? That is
a real good lesson for us.
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If we have a casual experience
where we just bump up next to
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Jesus, we go to church and put
in our time but we are not in
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earnest and not we're not
wholehearted like that woman.
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If we do not have that kind
of faith, then Jesus doesn't
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recognize it, Jesus
knows the difference between an
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intentional wholehearted faith,
a casual halfhearted experience.
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That is absolutely true and
it reminds me that we all face
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those situations where if we
truly give ourselves to Christ
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we face obstacles, sometimes
they are impractical situations.
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I remember when I
first became a Christian.
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The Holy Spirit came to my heart
and convicted me of something
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I had stole from my employer
prior to becoming a Christian.
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I was convicted that I needed
to go and tell my employer and
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I was so petrified because it
was a fairly expensive item and
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I could lose my job
and I knew I'd lose my job.
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And I thought Lord, this
was before I was a Christian
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I confessed all that,
I'm newborn, why couldn't
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I've done it before, now
it is going to ruin my witness
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in all these things but
the conviction was there.
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I knew it was something I
had to go and make it right,
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despite the obstacle and
I'll tell you what, when I did.
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I went and talked my employer
about that thing because I knew
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it was the right thing to do
and I did it for the sake of the
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Lord that I gave my life to.
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God worked that out with my
employer, not only did I not
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lose my job but he was
impressed with the level of
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integrity that he saw from
me willing to able to something
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because I had
gotten away with it.
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So at any rate I had fought,
I had seen the obstacles and
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made them bigger than
they really were, but the Lord
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carried me through
when I exercised faith.
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He compelled you by His grace
and you had turmoil but when
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you received His grace
by faith you received peace.
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Grace and peace is in harmony
with God and there is nothing
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like overcoming that sin
or obstacle and finding peace.
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There may be somebody
watching today, and you have got
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something that you know
God is calling on you to do.
00:10:31.86\00:10:34.36
But you are struggling with
how you are ever going to do it.
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Perhaps you learned you should
return a faithful tithe to God.
00:10:37.63\00:10:40.80
You are thinking to
yourself I have expenses and
00:10:40.84\00:10:43.94
there is no way I can overcome.
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I have a family situation that
requires more than I can do.
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You are thinking that would be
impossible, that is when faith
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comes in, faith is not
needed for that which is easy.
00:10:54.32\00:10:57.49
Faith is only needed for that
which is seemingly impossible.
00:10:57.52\00:11:01.86
So God is calling on us to be
faithful, to obey when it seems
00:11:01.89\00:11:06.09
impossible and that
is the exercise of faith.
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To obey and trust God
when it seems impossible.
00:11:08.70\00:11:11.20
There could be somebody who
has learned that the Seventh
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Day Sabbath is something that
is still valid for Christians.
00:11:14.37\00:11:17.44
They are thinking but
I've got this work situation
00:11:17.47\00:11:19.91
I have to figure out.
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I have too many barriers
that couldn't possibly be
00:11:21.48\00:11:26.75
overcome, the same situation,
faith is when we trust that if
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God is asking us to do it. God
will honor us if we honor Him.
00:11:31.25\00:11:36.09
If we obey God He will honor us.
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That is right and we could go to
Hebrews chapter 11, the faith.
00:11:39.19\00:11:42.66
Chapter and one fascinating
thing about it is over and
00:11:42.70\00:11:46.10
over, I'll give you a
few examples Hebrews 11:8.
00:11:46.13\00:11:48.50
It says, "by
faith Abraham obeyed. "
00:11:48.54\00:11:51.47
You go ahead to
verse 17 and it says,
00:11:51.51\00:11:54.38
"by faith Abraham -
offered up his son Isaac. "
00:11:54.41\00:11:56.91
Verse 20, "by faith
Isaac blessed Jacob. "
00:11:56.95\00:11:59.81
Verse 22, "by faith
Joseph, - made mention of the
00:11:59.85\00:12:06.22
"of departing the
children of Egypt. "
00:12:06.25\00:12:07.86
Verse 23, says "by faith Moses
- was hidden by his parents"
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These people found their
faith, every time you find that
00:12:12.13\00:12:16.26
word faith it's followed
by a corresponding action,
00:12:16.30\00:12:20.30
an exercise of the
belief that they had.
00:12:20.34\00:12:23.00
That is Bible faith, the
hearing of faith. - Amen!
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Speaking of the
hearing of faith,
00:12:25.57\00:12:26.91
let's go back to
Galatians 3:2 to conclude
00:12:26.94\00:12:30.48
because here we were reading,
"this only I want to learn
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"from you: Did you receive
the Spirit by the works of the
00:12:33.35\00:12:36.12
"law or by the
hearing of faith?"
00:12:36.15\00:12:39.39
The works of the
law had caused them to
00:12:39.42\00:12:41.69
stop obeying the truth.
00:12:41.72\00:12:43.19
The hearing of
faith caused them to obey.
00:12:43.22\00:12:46.36
We need to remember though
different from what is often
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misconstrued, this is
what the Bible teaches.
00:12:51.63\00:12:54.57
Those that go by
the works of the law do
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not obey the truth.
00:12:57.31\00:12:58.64
Those that have the
hearing of faith do obey.
00:12:58.67\00:13:01.31
We are hoping that as you've
listened to this presentation
00:13:01.34\00:13:04.35
and as we have studied
Galatians together that you have
00:13:04.38\00:13:07.35
caught a glimpse of how
you can be more faithful.
00:13:07.42\00:13:10.12
May God bless
you until next time.
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