An Atmosphere of Faith
Open: Have you ever walked into the middle of a conversation and all of a sudden it gets real quiet, and you get the sense that these two people have been arguing. And you say to yourself or someone else later, “Boy the air was so thick, you could cut it with a knife”
What you were sensing there was an atmosphere.; a negative atmosphere. But I wonder what would happen if we could create a positive atmosphere?
In fact, what could happen if we could create “An Atmosphere of Faith”?
You see, I believe that we can…
And that is what I want to talk to you about this morning…
“An Atmosphere of Faith”
TEXT: Please stand and turn in your Bibles to (Mark 2:1 NIV) A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.
(Mark 2:2 NIV) So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.
(Mark 2:3 NIV) Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.
(Mark 2:4 NIV) Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.
(Mark 2:5 NIV) When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
Church, what I want you to see is that THIS was an Atmosphere of Faith.
Let me tell you why an Atmosphere of Faith is so vital for every Christian…
# 1- God responds to our Faith
• In fact, the Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God
• The bible says “if we ask for anything “in faith…”
# 2 – Without Faith, Everything We do In Church is Empty
• For example, we can sing songs, but unless we sing IN FAITH, believing that our worship touches the heart of God and that He responds to us, we might as well be singing in the shower or with the radio.
• We can pray, but unless we pray in FAITH, we are just mouthing empty words
• We can give in the offering to satisfy our own desire to support a local church, but what God wants us to do is give IN FAITH, believing Him and taking him at his word that, when we give He will open up the windows of Heaven and pour out so much blessing we won’t have room for it all!
Did you know that WE are responsible for creating an ATMOSPHERE OF FAITH?
That is what these men did when they took their friend to Jesus!
Some people think it is up to God – but, while I know they are sincere, I respectfully submit that, Biblically, they are wrong.
Here are three ways we can create an atmosphere of faith in the church…
# 1- Creating An Atmosphere of Faith Starts BEFORE We Get To Church.
• Like one man said, “do you wake up and say “Good Morning Lord, or do you say “Good Lord, it’s morning”?
• Staying up too late on Saturday night
• Rushing in late on Sunday morning. You can’t find a seat, you can’t find a parking spot…it gets you in a bad mood.
• Get into an argument with your husband or your wife (mother or father) Then you’re forced to either put on a face or stew during service (what’s that cooking?)
• But if you get a good night’s sleep, refuse to let the devil get you mad or upset (because you had a bad hair day, or the last pair of hose you had have a runner in them, or (God forbid) someone sat in “your” seat in the sanctuary.)
• The you can wake up with expectancy
• You can wake up and begin to create an atmosphere of faith
• You can create the same atmosphere these four friends had. Then when we get to church we believe God can do anything!
• The Psalmist said in Psalm 100:4 “Enter His gates WITH thanksgiving and His courts WITH praise…”
• If you enter with something you aren’t “waiting” for it to show up, you already had it when you arrived!
• If you enter “WITH” thanksgiving and praise, it won’t matter…
• What the pastor preaches
• what songs the worship leader sings
# 2 Creating An Atmosphere of Faith Means Getting Involved When We Get To Church
• psalm 47:1 says “clap your hands”
• psalm 33:3 says “shout for joy”
• Psalm 47:1 says “shout to God with cries of joy”
• Psalm 66:1 says, “shout with joy to God”
• Psalm 95:1 says, “shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation”
• Psalm 96:7 says “sing to the Lord, praise His name”
• Psalm 13:6 says “I WILL sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me”
• You see, where we sometimes miss it is right here. We aren’t clapping just to clap our hands, we aren’t just shouting to make a loud noise, or singing for people to hear the melodious ambience of our angelic voices.
• What happens when we do all of these things is we begin to stir our own spirit, and in so doing we are creating an ATMOSPHERE OF FAITH
• Then this entire ATMOSPHERE OF FAITH begins to arise in the entire congregation
TRANSITION: Not only does an atmosphere of Faith happen before we get to church and while we are AT church, but…
# 3 – Creating An ATMOSPHERE OF FAITH means taking Something with us when we leave.
• One of the greatest tragedies of the church today is our silence
• God can move in a mighty way, people can be saved, healed, delivered, set-free from drugs, oppression, you name it…then we leave from the house of God and remain silent until next Sunday
• But sharing what happened with others will create an ATMOSPHERE OF FAITH and a certain expectancy.
• Then we can start inviting people, not to our church, but to experience our God (repeat)
• In Luke Ch. 8 Jesus cast demons out of a man
• In verse 38 we read the man wanted to stay with Jesus
• but Jesus told him in verse 39, NO, return home and tell how much God has done for you
• so the Bible says he “told all over town how much Jesus had done for him”
I don’t know about you, but I want our church to have this “ATMOSPHERE OF FAITH”
