Participants: Eric Garloff
Series Code: WWJ
Program Code: WWJ000006
|
00:01 Have you ever wondered how you can have
00:03 a closer walk with Jesus? 00:04 Stay tuned and we'll share with you how you can do just that 00:08 in this edition of Walking With Jesus. 00:26 Greetings! 00:27 I'm Eric Garloff, your host for Walking With Jesus. 00:30 I'm so glad that you joined us because in today's program 00:34 we're going to be talking about a very important topic. 00:36 We're going to be talking about faith and acceptance. 00:40 Now in our last three programs we dealt with repentance, 00:43 confession, and consecration. 00:46 And that's what makes today's program so important 00:49 because faith and acceptance in the life of the believer 00:51 needs to be acted upon to receive the blessings found in 00:56 repentance, confession, and consecration. 01:00 So what is faith? 01:02 How do we understand it? 01:04 How do we define it? 01:06 And how do we apply it to our lives? 01:08 I once heard a story about a missionary in a foreign land. 01:13 He was translating the Bible into the native language 01:16 of the people. 01:17 As it often goes there were certain problems, or obstacles, 01:22 in translating from one language to another. 01:25 In this case there was no word in the people's language 01:29 to describe what faith is. 01:31 Then one day a member of the tribe had been running a very 01:35 long distance to see the missionary. 01:37 In fact he had been running for hours. 01:40 When he finally arrived at the village he came into the hut 01:44 of the missionary. 01:45 He immediately threw his whole weight into the chair 01:48 so that he could rest and catch his breath. 01:50 The man didn't stop to ask the missionary if it was safe 01:54 to sit in that chair, or if the chair would hold up his weight. 01:58 He simply trusted that it would. 02:00 The missionary then understood how he could translate 02:03 the word faith. 02:04 He told the villagers that faith is as if you were resting your 02:09 entire weight on a chair, never questioning or doubting 02:13 that the chair will be able to hold you up. 02:14 Applying this to the Christian faith would then mean that 02:19 we are to place the weight of our burdens upon God, 02:23 doubting nothing, with full knowledge that He's able 02:27 to hold us up. 02:28 Let's dig a little deeper here. 02:30 In earlier programs we've seen God's love for humanity 02:34 and our great need for God. 02:36 We've understood that sin separates us from God 02:40 and that through confession and repentance we can be 02:43 forgiven and made right with God. 02:45 We've also seen the need to consecrate our lives to God 02:49 asking Him to live within us each and every day 02:53 supplying us with the strength to live a victorious 02:56 life in Jesus. 02:57 Through the presence of the power of the Holy Spirit 03:00 working within us, all of these things are accomplished 03:03 in and through our lives. 03:07 Now let's look at a Biblical application of 03:10 faith and acceptance. 03:11 Quoting from the book Steps to Christ, page 33, we read: 04:13 You believe this promise. 04:15 You confess your sins and give yourself to God. 04:18 You will to serve Him. 04:20 Just as surely as you do this God will fulfill 04:22 His word to you. 04:23 If you believe the promise, believe that you are forgiven, 04:26 and cleansed, God supplies the fact. 04:29 You are made whole. 04:30 Just as Christ gave the paralytic power to walk 04:33 when the man believed that he was healed. 04:36 It is so if you believe it. 05:10 I'd like to share a short story which illustrates this 05:14 point of faith and belief. 05:16 The story is told of a lady who week after week, 05:20 month after month, and year after year, would always pray 05:24 for victory over a certain sin. 05:26 It came to the point where a teenager, who nearly always 05:30 sat behind this woman in church, and who continually 05:33 heard this woman's prayer, one day said to the lady, 05:36 "Don't you think it's about time that you give up that sin?" 05:38 You see friends, it's like we mentioned in the past, 05:42 when we step out in faith and ask God to remove sin from us, 05:46 we need to act on it as if He has already done it. 05:50 We need to make decided changes in our lives by taking hold 05:54 of the power of God which He promised to give us. 05:56 We need to accept His word as being real, complete with real 06:01 power to make changes in our lives. 06:03 This is how we live a life of faith, the life of victory, 06:07 the life of decided change, the life of belief in God's word. 06:12 Faith is really nothing more than taking God at His word, 06:16 and taking the next step forward. 06:19 Now the statement was made earlier that there's a condition 06:23 for claiming the promises of God and having Him 06:25 answer our prayers. 06:26 When we pray we must pray according to the will of God. 06:30 Let me ask you, "Don't you think it's God's will to cleanse us 06:33 from sin and make us His children; to grant us the power 06:37 for victory in our lives?" 06:39 Of course it is! 06:40 Therefore we can have confidence in God and in the scriptures. 06:45 As it is written in John 1:9, If we confess our sins, 06:50 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 06:52 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 06:55 Now that's something to be joyful about, Amen? 06:57 Steps to Christ, pages 34 and 35 says this: 07:44 They must have His grace; the Spirit of Christ to help their 07:48 infirmities or they cannot resist evil. 07:50 Jesus loves to have us come to Him just as we are; sinful, 07:55 helpless, and dependent. 07:57 We may come with all our weakness, our folly, 08:01 our sinfulness, and fall at His feet in penitence. 08:04 It is His glory to encircle us in the arms of His love 08:08 and to bind up our wounds, to cleanse us from all impurity. 08:12 I'm continuing to quote from page 35: 09:03 This passage echoes the sentiments of God as found in 09:06 Ezekiel 18:32 which says: I have no pleasure in the death 09:11 of him that dies, says the Lord God. 09:13 Wherefore turn yourselves and live. 09:15 Isaiah 55:7 also makes this theme clear. 09:20 It says, Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous 09:23 man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord 09:26 and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, 09:29 for He will abundantly pardon. 09:31 The old sentiment is true folks. 09:34 God hates sin but He loves the sinner, 09:36 and He desires everyone, young and old, rich and poor, 09:40 to come to Him that they might have everlasting life. 09:45 God not only wants to cleanse us from our sin, but He wants 09:48 to give us the power in our lives to overcome sin, 09:51 and live a life of victory over our sin. 09:53 He wants us to bury our past and to move forward in His power. 09:58 One Biblical passage speaks about putting our hand 10:01 to the plow and not looking back. 10:03 The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13, 14: 10:23 Yes, to be called a Christian is a privilege and an honor; 10:26 a privilege that we day by day strive to live up to. 10:30 Not in our own power, but in the power of the Almighty God. 10:34 By faith we believe, and by acting upon our faith 10:38 God makes it so. 10:39 This is His promise to all of mankind. 10:43 Now a few words about the opposition. 10:45 Satan is artful in his craft. 10:47 He's had thousands of years to perfect his ability of lying 10:50 to us and tricking us into thinking things about God 10:54 that just simply aren't true. 10:55 He wants to destroy us, and it's his goal to steal away every 10:59 little bit of hope that the human race has. 11:01 In doing this he discourages the sinner and convinces 11:05 him to give up. 11:06 This we cannot allow him to do. 11:08 We need to realize that all of the angels of heaven 11:11 are at our disposal; that God will move heaven and earth 11:15 to save the repentant sinner who takes Him at His word 11:18 and acts in faith upon His word. 11:20 If God would offer His only Son to save us, there is nothing 11:25 that He would withhold from us for the salvation of our souls. 11:28 There is no sincere prayer that He would not answer. 11:32 He yearns for the repentant sinner to yield his life to Him. 11:36 He longs for you and me to make a decision to follow Him. 11:41 God says it this way in Jeremiah 29:11: 11:52 Yes, God has a plan for your life, and He has an expected end 11:57 for each and every one of us. 11:58 And that expected end is for us to spend eternity 12:01 with Him in heaven and on the earth made new. 12:06 Speaking of heaven and the new earth, when we by faith 12:09 take God at His word, this is what we have waiting for us 12:12 and it's found in Revelation 21:1-7 12:15 which reads the following: And I saw a new heaven 12:19 and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth 12:21 were passed away; and there was no more sea. 12:24 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down 12:29 from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride 12:32 adorned for her husband. 12:33 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, 12:36 Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell 12:40 with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself 12:44 shall be with them, and be their God. 12:47 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; 12:50 and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, 12:53 nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: 12:56 for the former things are passed away. 12:58 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, 13:01 I make all things new. 13:02 And he said unto me, Write: for these words 13:07 are true and faithful. 13:08 And he said unto me, It is done. 13:11 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. 13:14 I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain 13:17 of the water of life freely. 13:19 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be 13:23 his God, and he shall be my son. 13:26 Isn't that a beautiful thought to leave you with, friends? 13:29 He will be our God and we shall be His children. 13:34 May God's rich blessings be upon you and your loved ones 13:38 as you find yourselves walking with Jesus. 13:41 Walking with Jesus is the most rewarding thing a person can do. 13:48 In Him we find eternal life. 13:51 We pray you draw close to Jesus each time 13:54 as you study the Bible. 13:56 Join us again for our next program where you will learn 14:00 how to be a disciple of Jesus. |
Revised 2014-12-17