Acting like You Have Faith or Acting on Your True Faith.

"Acting like you have faith or Acting on your true faith"

Ask for blessings!

Before I begin I will tell you I love to do illustrations and you'll hear quite a few in my sermons. For one the congregation loves to hear them, or I do at least...and it gets your attention. Another, it shows how God works in everyday life, and I believe that is what our church needs to hear more than anything else today.

A young woman teacher with obvious liberal tendencies explains to her class of small children that she is an atheist. She asks her class if they are atheists too. Not really knowing what atheism is but wanting to be like their teacher, their hands explode into the air like fleshy fireworks. There is, however, one exception. A beautiful girl named Lucy has not gone along with the crowd. The teacher asks her why she has decided to be different. "Because I'm not an atheist." Then, asks the teacher, what are you? "I'm a Christian." Says Lucy. The teacher is a little perturbed now, her face slightly red. She asks Lucy why she is a Christian. "Well, I was brought up knowing and loving Jesus. My mom is a Christian, and my dad is a Christian, so I am a Christian. The teacher is now agitated. "That's no reason," she says forcefully. "What if your mom was a moron and your dad was a moron. What would you be then?" A pause and a smile "Then," says Lucy, "I'd be an atheist."

The main purpose of that illustration was to describe her faith.

SENSES - Seeing, Hearing, and Feeling

The Wind - Childlike faith

Believing things 'on authority' only means believing them because you have been told them by someone you think trustworthy. Ninety-nine percent of the things you believe are believed on authority. I believe there is such a place as New York. I could not prove by abstract reasoning that there is such a place. I believe it because reliable people have told me so.

Matthew 14:22-32

ACTING and GROWING

Salvation is the turning point...You Fully Rely On God.

They establish the fact that they believe in something, and that it has an effect in their life to where they can establish that belief.

The first time I got saved - immature, did not understand faith.

Striving for faith leads to Growth

First physical steps to growing in faith: Read your bible, pray, and go to church. That is how I established my "childlike" faith.

Matt 17:20 - Mustard Seed

I will not be so naпve to say that everyone was raised with these Christian principles and values but everyone should use them as a basis for their Christian walk. We cannot rely on our own self-existence to build our faith. We cannot fabricate faith in God; it must be grown and well established. We must have a relationship (pray) with him first.

The more things I saw happen the more faith I had. The more prayers that were answered the more faith. It is a GIVE and RECEIVE relationship. WE give God our attention, time, and praise and he gives us solid reasoning for faith if that's what we need to know he is real.

The Old Lady illustration - Old lady hollered "Praise the Lord" everyday, Atheist hollered back "There ain't no lord." Old lady needed groceries "Praise the Lord, and Lord help cause I need some groceries and I ain't got no money." ETC...

Tell about Mexico and Listening Prayer.

Why bad things happen to good people and how to respond to them

I think I'm confident enough to say that everyone in here has gone through a crisis and wondered "God, why is this happening to me, I'm a good person." Or you've seen it in someone else's life. We are punished, even the good ones, because we sin!! C.S. Lewis said that "No man knows how bad they are until they have tried very hard to be good."

It says in the Bible, "All have sinned" not just some, not just the bad ones but "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." We are a people born into sin, it's our nature and it was our choice. That choice came with consequences that even good people have to go through. If God didn't punish the good, then everyone would be good...That sounds ideal but where would God get the satisfaction of knowing that we love him even through it all. It goes back to the question, why didn't God just create everyone perfect. It defeats the purpose of love...it doesn't prove anything and there is no satisfaction in knowing that you're loved by something that was made to love you not that had