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Radical Faith Sermon SeriesPart 1: Baby Faith (Foundation of Faith)Romans 10: 14 – 17 NIV 14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”16But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.The most important message you can ever hear is the message about Jesus Christ’s plan of salvation. Baby Faith is salvation faith, believing in the message and accepting salvation in Jesus Christ! Our Faith in God has a birthing (when we first believed). True faith/belief is the result of fire tests/trials; you are not truly believing God until you have been tested in that area of your life! Salvation Faith is the prerequisite of seeing, experiencing and entering the Kingdom of God. Hebrews 11: 1 – 6 NIV Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.4 By faith, Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith, he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.Faith is Neutral; you can make your faith grow in anything or anyone! Worldly Faith: The confidence in your education, business, bank savings, stocks, assets, etc. as the sustainer of your life!God wants you to know that Nothing or No one can be trusted with your faith/confidence! Faith (Pi’tho – Pistis) – to persuade to have confidence The Lord seeks to persuade the believer who is in willful submission, that His will is the preferred path to success. God intends for you to see His faithfulness to provide and supply your every need as evidence so that your future confidence can be entrusted in Him! This world (government leaders, employers, religions and religious leaders) are trying to convince you to have confidence in them! Mark 11: 22 NIV 22“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.Conclusion: Growing your faith in God Deuteronomy 6: 4 – 9 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [a] 5Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Shema: Listen and Obey. The view is that when God speaks you simply listen and do as He says! akoḗ – properly, hearing; use of inner (spiritual) hearing that goes with receiving faith from God Matthew 11: 11 – 15 NIV 11Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. 13For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 14And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. 15Whoever has ears, let them hear. Spiritual discernment: to understand the words of God because God’s word must be revealed to the hearer! James 1: 22 NIV 22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.Practicing the instructions of the word of God grows your faith in God!Action Plan:Is your faith alive? The evidence of Life is Growth! Join Pastor Bruce Next week at our 8 am and 10 am experiences for a continuation of his Radical Faith Sermon Series!
God is Love — 1 John 4:7-5:5 7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 17Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19We love Him because He first loved us. 20If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. 1Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. 5Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? I. The Self-Sacrifice of God who is Love (4:7-12) “Love” in 1 John: 2:5, 10, 15; 3:1, 10, 11, 14, 16-18, 23 – 46x II. Abiding in the Triune God – God Is Love (4:13-16) III. Perfected Love (4:17-19) IV. Overcoming Love: Obedience and Faith (4:20-5:5)
Pastor Z. Legend January 5, 2014 Mark 16:15-20 Mark 16:15Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” 19After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.