The Truth About Faith

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The truth about God's word and turn with me to the 17th chapter of the gospel of Matthew Fay is one of the most powerful forces on earth in the Bible is filled with examples of faith. In fact, the Bible is a book of faith from cover to cover.

It describes what it is like to know God by faith, one after another. We need individuals in the Scripture because so much of the Bible's biography in that the Bible is a book not only to be learned, but it is a book to be lived. So faith is put into practice in the lives of man like Abraham did by faith went out following the will of God for his life, determined to knowing to do exactly what God asked him to do and for the great nation by faith.

It is the faith of men like Shadrach me shack in the Bendigo who facing a fiery furnace.

They would not bow down to the king said, let us let you know king that when I get a bow down to your idol because our God is able to deliver us, but if not, we still will not bow down to the image. Okay, that state is faith in the fire and what about Joe who face the loss of most everything that he possessed and yet he cried out, Lord, even if you sleep yet will I trust in you is the faith of a man like Peter who got out of the boat, walked on the water at the command of Christ is the faith of the apostle Paul Jewish Rabbi converted by the risen Redeemer, Jesus himself who was transformed from a murderer to a missionary and by faith took the message of the gospel around the world over and over. I could mention the many women who live by faith. In fact, the Bible says that just shall live by faith. So God wants every one of us to experience faith and to express faith. A living, vibrant confident faith, the kind of faith that even moves mountains. Now we know according to the Scripture that without faith it is impossible to please God and I can also add without faith we cannot prove God, it is faith that proves our trust in God daily and therefore God rewards faith and we have been given faith not to put in our pockets but to plant like a seed to invest in order that it may be develop and grow in the exercise of justice and athlete runs and lifts to get stronger to run faster and develop his athletic skills so are we need to take the faith that God has given us the faith that we have given back to him and grow it and exercise it developing it. Mark chapter 9 verse 23 says all things are possible if you believe all things are possible now. Not much of anything is possible if you don't believe, but if you believe anything is possible. Jesus said all things are possible to them who believe God is able to do anything and everything he chooses to do and when you believe you began releasing the power of God in your life. Now if there was ever a time when we needed faith.

It is now we live in a world of devils fill a world full of uncertainty, fear, anxiety, terrorism is now becoming almost daily occurrence in our world and fear can grip the bravest of hearts, and so this is not a time for doubt.

But this is a time for a vital victorious faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is so powerful. Faith is so important that I don't believe it is possible for me to overstate the importance of faith. This kind of faith in your life, not a French faith, but a full throttle faith in Jesus Christ. And when you live in faith, your life will be filled with radiant joy and certain hope and abiding peace and constant grace.

And we realize that faith is so wonderful because it counteracts every negative emotion in our life whether it is anxiety what is worry worry is the sin of not trusting God for what God has promised to do take care of us in our lives and it helps us to overcome fear in our life because the antidote to fear is faith. If you are guilty of your written with guilt because of past sins, past failures, past mistakes, it is faith that helps us to receive God's grace and God's forgiveness in our lives. It is by faith that we live so today I want you to see this lesson on faith in the story that Takes Pl. in Matthew chapter 17 as a desperate father comes to Jesus in behalf of his son, beginning at verse 14 and when they come to the multitude. A man came to him, kneeling down to him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son for he is an epileptic and suffered severely for he often falls into the fire and into the water. So I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him. And then Jesus answered and said both faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you. How long shall I bear with you bring him here to be and Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the child was cured from that very hour and then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why could we not cast it out. So Jesus said to them, here's the lesson on faith because of your unbelief for assuredly, I say to you.

If you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.

Today were going to look at the demand for faith. We're going to see the dynamic of faith and then we will discover the development of faith, how to grow our faith. First of all, the demand for faith. Peter, James and John were given a profound experience.

The privilege experience and that was to walk with Jesus up to a mountaintop and their amazing event transpired known as the Transfiguration of Christ there Peter, James and John experience what no other has ever experienced.

And that is the very presence of the Shekinah glory of God is expressed in Jesus, they saw their Moses and Elijah, who appeared from heaven and their Jesus trends figured before the to be transfigured means that Jesus revealed what was in him and everything that Jesus was on the inside was manifested on the outside and is Jesus in all of his radiant resplendent glory is standing there on the mountaintop Moses representing the law Elijah representing the prophets. In effect we have a prelude to the coming kingdom of God. It is a kind of advanced check-in of the second coming of Christ and there as there watching this they heard thundering from heaven. The voice of God the father spoke and said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear him these three disciples fell on their faces in fear and Jesus said get up. Don't be afraid, and they experience there. After that only Jesus for the Scripture says they saw only Jesus.

Those two words summarize the answer to every human problem.

Jesus only because Jesus only as Savior and Lord Jesus only is the answer to the questions of mankind.

It was a momentous mountaintop experience that is great to have experiences like these with God. None of us have experienced this, of course, but we had wonderful worship experiences we've had times when we have met God and experience his presence powerfully in our lives, and at those times we just want to stay there. In fact, Peter said Lord.

This is wonderful Peter always willing to say something even if it was appropriate, said Lord Les Westville three tabernacles here on this amount.

One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah was to stay up here and turn this into a shrine of worship, how often we are tempted to remain on our spiritual highs. Those moments of great heavenly ecstasy.

But you see, our faith takes us down off the mountain and into the real world and seriousness in the presence of people who need Jesus, that we might fulfill this mission of compassion in people's lives. No we don't say on the mountain because God is called us to going to the valleys of despair and PowerPoint with Jack Graham in today's message. The truth about faith God-given calling to take the gospel to the world.

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Call 1-800-795-4627 that's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 59789 and don't forget to visit Jack Graham.org where you can shop our E store. Give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional our website again is Jack Graham.Margie Ellis Québec. Today's message the truth about faith. Jesus came down and he met face-to-face a desperate dad, a father who said, Lord Jesus, have mercy. Mercy for my son is an epileptic, he is having seizures in this boy apparently demonized because Jesus cast a demon out of him. This boy influenced powerfully by the devil needed the grace of the mercy and the love of Jesus Christ. Now standing around were disciples disciples of Jesus, who were now defeated, discouraged disciples because they had tried to help this boy, they tried to respond to the request of the father, but they could not deliver anything that their faith say you we often find our faith failing.

Just when we needed the most and were so often unable to translate our faith from the divine to the day-to-day, we struggle to make our faith work in the stand up to the challenges of our lives is wonderful worship to hear God's word to be moved deeply by the spirit of God at times even to touch the grace the glory of God to worship God, but that we are unable to take what we've experienced in times of worship to work or to take it home with us or to deal with the problems that seemingly we can handle an outline receipt.

Faith is not just for the mountaintop, but faith is for the struggles that we have every day and you can worship and worship and let your hearts and your hands to the Lord that he can be a wonderful experience but I like what LR Scarborough Southwestern seminary, said one time he said you know is not how high you job but his house straight. You walk when you come down and we are to walk by faith and God gives us victories and valleys. Now I love mountaintops but did you know that God uses mountaintop experiences to prepare us for the challenges of the Valley.

After the mountain comes the test of the Valley. In fact, your faith will be tested. You need to learn that about faith that they will be tested at every point in the faith that can't be tested is a faith that can't be trusted because a tested faith is a strength in faith and a proven faith. So God, since trials and difficulties and demands and delays in our lives in seemingly impossible situations that we face challenges that seemingly overwhelm us at times in order to prove our faith and to push us forward. So these disciples. Peter, James and John join these inapt, impotent disciples there at the bottom who were powerless to do anything about the desperate condition of this boy and the request of this dad and they met the devil face-to-face in the demonized spirits of this boy. You know I've learned in my life. Through these years that when I have a mountaintop experience with God to place myself because an attack is coming you can just count on it.

I've learned to expect that valleys follow victories chance are on the heels of tryout why why is that because God wants to take us higher. God wants to develop your faith.

God wants to deepen your character. But in order for that to happen. God must take your faith into the fight. God must take your faith sometimes into the fire, so the disciples learn this lesson. Their faith was small, Jesus looked at them and said the problem is that you don't have faith enough faith. Oh ye of little faith. It is because of your belief. Jesus took over. They brought the boy to him at his request and cast the demon out in the boy was he that family was blessed by the touch of God.

These defeated disciples stood by watching and you can't help but comment at this point, but how often are people today disillusion because men and women who profess faith do not live faith and are unable to express the power of God. Men may failure but God will never fail you. They wanted to know why are we so powerless now year earlier.

These disciples had been empowered by Christ to go on a missionary journey, as it were across Israel and they were preaching and teaching the kingdom of God and they were healing the sick and delivering people from demons and so they're saying what happened. Where's the power to be that they were resting on their laurels. Could it be that they were relying on past experiences with God.

Could it be that they were now trying to do this in their own strength.

I don't know.

But Jesus gives us a clue what he says misconduct kind comes only by prayer and fasting that they forgotten to pray and to seek God in their lives even though they were around Jesus and the things that Jesus was doing. They were slipping spiritually and that's possible for us as well. You can be around all the things of Christ and the things of the church and yet be prayerless to be powerless in your life Jesus and all unbelieving and perverted generation strong words, a powerful rebuke from our Lord. He speaks not of moral perversion here but of the spiritual perversion of unbelief because the greatest sin the greatest perversion of all, the only sin that cannot be forgiven is the sin of unbelief. Jesus died for every kind of sin imaginable, any sin, in every sense, but it is the sin of disbelief and unbelief that keeps a man a woman from knowing God and experiencing forgiveness in their life, so he says oh you of unbelief and spiritual perversion. Jesus said you are powerless because of your lack of faith. Now many have saving faith.

Most of us in this room today.

Others listening to me by radio right now you have saving faith. But you don't have sufficient faith for the challenges of the crisis of life.

You don't have a strong faith to stand against the works of the enemy.

And so God wants you to have not only a saving faith, but a sufficient faith on what is that me well your Matthew chapter 17. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11 now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Three things about faith that leap from this page. In this one sentence faith is substance faith is evidence and faith is hope that what is substance. Substance is something you can stand upon something underneath you to hold you up faith is real.

God has given every one of us a capacity to believe 86. Since God is given to everyone.

The measure, a measure of faith and faith is not simply closing your eyes and believing things down deep in your heart you don't think are really true but rather faith is strong faith and substantive faith is not just kind of faith that were talking about here is not faith in faith or faith in a better day or a better life. Faith is not wishful thinking. In fact, is the substance of things hoped for, what is hope. Hope is not just well I hope I hope I hope hope in the Bible is a sure thing is anticipation.

That's why the second coming of Christ is called the blessed hope because we know that Christ is coming again, and that is our blessed hope, our faith is built upon evidence given to us in the word of God is not mindless but rather it is faith in God. Sometimes people say well what you need to do is just delete just believe. Well believe what because faith is only as valid as its object in this place faith can be dangerous. It can be deadly. There people in our world today because of missed placed faith who think they're doing God a favor by blowing themselves and others up on buses, terminals and buildings airline.

We need bona fide Junior one faith faith that is built upon solid truth and in our generation. What we need to do is feed our faith and starve our down faith. Jesus said all you generation of unbelievers. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

This, of course, there are many things about our faith that we cannot see everything to be falling apart in your life doesn't seem that your advancing spiritually or maybe your marriage or is in trouble.

Or maybe your family is in trouble.

Make your finances aren't rock-bottom and you been praying and you been putting your trust in your faith in God and you can't see it happening in your wondering God. He really working in my life God are these prayers really getting through. I'm here to tell you that you can trust God that he is working even when you can't see it, you keep on watching you keep on praying and God will keep on working in your life and one day you will see it because all things are possible to those who believe trust in God, and remember that delays are not denials with God's timing is always perfect. God can do what we can't do rather than running ahead and taking matters into our own hands and trying to figure things out ourselves.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him and he will bring it to pass.

Put God first in your life and in your hearts trust in dare to believe and not to tell God does not want to live in doubt and defeat and discouragement. He wants you to live in faith. So this is the dynamic of faith who are listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham in today's next entry 3.2 billion people in our world.

No access to the good news of Jesus, and we must do what ever it takes to reach the lost, but the hope of Christ. That's why were excited to tell you about a matching grant that will double when ever you give today to help reach more people to PowerPoint your support will help broadcast the gospel into some of the most spiritually dark corners of the earth will say thanks for your gift by sending you three of Pastor Graham's books County share the gospel right where you are. This evangelism bundle includes companies like in God's promises for doubt filled days. This is the last day to have your gift doubled. So call today, 1-800-795-4627 that's 1-800-795-4627.

You can also text when PowerPoint to 59789 that's PowerPoint to 59789 and don't forget to visit Jack Graham.org where you can shop our E store gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional our website again is Jack Graham.Margie*what is your PowerPoint for today. I hope you learn today that is not simply to be learned, but it must be lived over and over in the Bible we meet men and women who faced impossible situations with an incredible faith, and they came through their trials victorious along with applying our faith to struggles in life. The Bible specifically says without faith it is impossible to please God. I don't know about you, but more than anything else.

I want to please God. I want to delight God. This is another reason why learning and living faith is so vital. Finally, one last reason to have a strong faith in the Lord is important because we all go through trials and experience that don't make sense. There will always be questions that are unanswered. The great Christian AW toes or once said let faith support is where reason fails, I believe that is true. Hebrews 11 one says faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen that his faith gives you something to stand on. It gives you hope stability in the midst of emptiness and hopelessness, and it gives you the evidence, all the evidence you need that God is present in your life if you'd like to trust Christ as your personal Lord and Savior today and know that your sins are forgiven and that you're on your way to heaven.

Then pray this prayer with me, Lord Jesus, I invite you into my life to be my Lord, my Savior, my master, and by friend. Thank you for dying for me for living again that I might live forever with you, Lord Jesus, thank you for hearing my prayer coming into my heart and making me your child. Now, if you are accepting Christ. I want to be the first to welcome you and the family of God. You are now a child of the everlasting father, please let us know about your decision because would like to send you a new believer stack to help you get started in your walk today. If you pray that prayer with Dr. Graham and accepted Jesus would love to hear from so we can help begin your Christ is one 800-7954 627-1800 795467 joined Dr. Graham next time she brings a message about how to build a face mountain that's next time on PowerPoint with Jack PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint ministries