NO DOUBT
Last Saturday 217 people boarded EgyptAir Flight 990 from New York to Cairo, Egypt. Never arrived, plunging into the sea, all died.
They had faith that when they boarded that plane, that several hours later they would be on the ground again in Egypt.
It was a whirlwind romance, 3 months later she walked down the aisle and into the arms of “Mr Right”, she was on cloud 9.
Just two months passed when the verbal abuse started, the physical abuse followed shortly, her dream had become a nightmare.
She thought she knew him, trusting that he was genuinely who he seemed to be, but the truth was far different.
The days were filled with song and dance, Wall Street was over-flowing with eager investors. Life was a roaring happy party.
On October 29. 1929 the party abruptly ended when the stock market crashed. Many people lost everything. Life was now difficult.
1000s had confidence t/good days would continue now hard times came
Faith, Trust, Confidence, Security, Assurance, all synonymous words that mean “to be certain and to have firm conviction”.
Stated or unstated - everyone places their faith in something, everyone has certainty or conviction about something.
Some may deny it, or not recognize it, but it doesn’t change the fact that everyone places faith in something, whether it be something lasting or temporary is the only question that remains.
Multitudes have their faith rooted in money, but like the man in Luke 12:16ff his reliance on his money meant nothing when he died.
Verses 19 & 20 read, “And I’ll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink & be merry. But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
On the other hand, every so often, you read in the paper about an aged person who recently died. When the family or friends clean out the house, they find thousands of dollars in their mattress.
Obviously their faith in the banking system was not too great, but they did have faith in themselves and their own security.
There are people who isolate themselves, and that isolation is what they have confidence in, where they are comfortable what they trust.
Some rely on their fame & popularity, relishing the spotlight. But their 15 minutes quickly dim & they are left retelling old, tired stories.
I once talked with a ex-college basketball player who was trying to find his niche in life. He said, “all I am is an old jock, what can I do?”
He was no longer able to do t/only thing he was good at & he was lost.
In the same way, placing your faith or confidence in people, whether family, friends, associates, church leaders is always risky business. Squabbles, a job transfer, disappointment, move, marriage, death - all these things bring a temporary or permanent separation.
Once again, the question is not IF we place our faith in something, but WHAT we place our faith in.
We must realize the heartaches that will come from placing our trust in things that fail, and search out that which will never fail.
My suggestion of course is placing your faith in GOD!
But t/scoffers & unbelievers say we are fools, that there is no God, since you can’t see or touch Him, yet Hebrews 11:1 - “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for & certain of what we don’t see.”
How can we be confident in God? How can we be sure He exists and that He has proven His love to us? Do we have any guarantees?
I Corinthians 15:2 - “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to t/word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
What can bring confidence to our faith, so that we will hold firmly to God, knowing He won’t leave us disappointed?
The Knowledge of God is the key! To know Him fully!
When I have counseled couples planning to marry, one thing I have always encouraged is a long engagement. Why? Because the longer you date, the better you know the person & that knowledge will help you make the correct choice about your life-time partner.
The same is true with God, the more you know Him, the stronger your faith.
WHY? Knowledge of God produces Faith in God.
We sing a song, “The Longer I Serve Him the Sweeter He Grows”.
Those of you who have been Christians many years, understand this song, you are a testimony to God’s faithfulness & trustworthiness.
Some of the strongest Christians are aged saints, who have experienced all that life can throw at them, yet their faith in God is unshakable.
Yet at times our faith is unstable, even then,
2 Timothy 2:13 “if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”
Let’s look at five things (High School) that will show the reality of God and why our faith should be in Him alone. In the weeks ahead we will look at what this faith produces, or it’s effect in our lives.
1. Creation
Romans 1:20, “For since t/creation of t/ world Gods invisible qualities --his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made, so that men are w/out excuse.”
When you look at a watch you automatically realize that someone intelligent designed it. The elements didn’t just come together.
Yet so many look at the vastness of creation and draw that conclusion.
How could the universe with all of it’s complexities “just happen?”
Think about earth. It is the exact size to maintain life. Any size difference and life would cease to exist. The distance from the sun is exact, closer we fry, farther, we freeze. The tilt of the earth ensures our seasons. The waters of the oceans, lakes and rivers are the earth’s thermostat, protecting us from cold and heat.
Again - Psalm 19:1-2, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.”
Water also works as a stabilizing agent in the human body, regulating it’s temperature.
And think of the human body, with it’s miles of veins that carry blood to every part. The greatest pump ever designed in the world is the heart, working without fail for years, pumping 100’s of gallons of blood each and every day. Think about your fingers & fingertips, tough enough to grip and carry heavy loads, yet so sensitive they can feel the strands of soft hair, or the slightest breath.
The list of t/wonders of God as displayed through our world is endless.
I live in a world of design, not chance, I live in a body of design, not chance, I serve a loving, creative and designing God.
My faith is not weak, nor is it in the weak..
My faith has credibility because my God is credible.. My faith is in the powerful God of Creation and the Creator of ME!
2. Desire for God
Every society that has ever existed, whether primitive or sophisticated has held a belief in a “higher power”. every one!
All people long for something greater than themselves. Partly, because of the limitations and failures of mankind.
If we are the “highest evolved species”, with no other hope besides ourselves, we are in big trouble, and mankind knows that.
There is a longing to worship something or someone greater than ourselves. Someone more worthy of adoration and honor.
A good example is when Paul was asked to speak to the men of Athens
Acts 17: 22-27, Paul then stood up in the meeting of the (airopagas) Areopagus & said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around & looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I’m going to proclaim to you. "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He’s not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; & He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though He is not far from each one of us.”
Paul was able to answer the question, “Who is God?” Yet because of the people’s poly-theistic background and their skepticism of Christ’s resurrection, most turned a deaf ear to Paul’s message.
Today there is great interested in “spiritual matters”. T/Psychic hotlines witchcraft, contacting the dead (movies), channeling, seances, and on the positive side, a resurgence in the mainstream church.
There is an open door for the message of God and His love, because people’s heart are receptive. It’s up to us to reach out through friendship and direct them to the only true God.
Now let’s talk science for a minute.
3. The Law of Cause and Effect
The Law of Cause and Effect identifies that everything falls into one of these two categories, either a Cause or an Effect, maybe both.
For instance, the home that I live in is the effect of skilled laborers. The builders are the cause. The lunch we eat at Blessings today is the effect of Ann & her cooks, the food in turn will cause our bodies to be strengthened. Tree have seeds that cause other trees to grow. I am the effect of my Dad & Mom and Kim and I are the cause of Mandy & Jonathan. (There’s no one to blame but us!)
Everything falls into one of these two categories.
Now, when you go back through history, you come to a point we call the beginning. At that starting point, how did it start, what caused it?
Once you have physical objects, then they can become the cause of things to follow, but what started it all?
So many theories have been suggested, but they all start with something, some substance, something that caused something else to happen.
We eventually have to come to an uncauseable cause, someone who was never an effect, that brought everything into being - & that is God.
Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens & the earth.”
John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, & the Word was with God, & the Word was God.”
He has always been and He will always be.
My God is not a created being, He is not the invented idea of man and his imagination. My God, is the great I AM, always present tense.
4. Revealed Throughout History
Throughout history, God has revealed Himself to man, making Himself known.
From the beginning of recorded time, God has wanted man to know, love and to serve Him. He has made Himself available to man.
When God created Adam & Eve he created them to have fellowship with Him, to have companionship.
Even though man sinned and separated himself from God, God still chose to connect with man.
He worked through the Patriarch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and then eventually through the nation of Israel.
Genesis 12:1-3, “The LORD had said to Abram, Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, & you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
After the nation as a whole turned it’s back on God, He worked through His spokesmen, called prophets.
Still, God wanted closer fellowship with man, so He became a man in the person of Jesus Christ.
John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One & Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The scoffers who mock Christians who believe in a God “they can’t see” simply haven’t opened their eyes to the abundant evidences that are clearly seen by anyone who has an open heart and mind.
God is not hiding. He has shown Himself over & over through history.
There’s one last thing, that by itself isn’t enough to prove that our faith has a sure foundation. But when you add it to the other proofs of God’s existence that we have seen, the picture is complete.
5. God - In my life
“He lives, He lives Christ Jesus lives today, you ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart!”
During my first year in Bible College, being complete in wisdom and knowledge, several of us began theologically picking apart the hymns. We were able to find fault in many gospel songs.
One we found was He Lives - “the only way I know He lives, is because He lives in my heart? How foolish, how absurd!
How naive & ignorant I was - Is the song saying that this is the only way of knowing He lives, of course not, is it one way- of course it is.
God in His infinite wisdom realizes that we need the subjective proofs as well as the objective proofs.
When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, it’s great to know that God’s the creator, it’s awe-inspiring to know He has revealed Himself to man, but right then I need God close, I need His gentle touch I need His guiding hand, & I have that because He lives in me. Christ in me, the hope of glory AMEN!
In what have you placed your faith?
If it is in anything but God, you are headed for disappointment and eternal disaster.
What do you need to do?
When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment He replied in Matthew 22:37, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
When you do you will never be disappointed-He will never let you down
This morning you may be able to see & understand the objective proofs for God’s existence & that may spur you to have faith in God.
But that faith or belief must produce action in your life.
How?
The book of Acts tells us that we must turn away from our desires and have the desires of God - doing things His way
We must have our sins removed as we are immersed in water
The added blessing, is that God as the Holy Spirit joins with my life and we become one. He now lives in me!
Then we begin walking by faith, growing in the knowledge of the Lord, living for Him, demonstrating the love of Christ through our lives into the lives of others.
If you need to take that first step of faith, stating your belief in God, then come up here as we sing our decision song.
We believe In God - do you, if you haven’t publicly stated that yet, then come on up as we sing together.
