Answers to Prayers: Only a Matter of Faith?

Good afternoon. Happy Sabbath. It is wonderful to be back here in Michigan. Some of us, like, if it's starting to feel like home, it is. We cross back in outside of Chicago. What is it? Well, coming across Indiana. You come across and say, welcome to Michigan. I said it feels like home already. It's nice. It really does. You pull into the driveway and the house is... the front door is not kicked in or anything like that. But you do the same old thing. You go through and you, first of all, you see if you got heat, especially with this weather. And then if there's any leaks, the hot water heater's not leaking. I said, okay, I think we're doing okay. We got heat and water and no floods, so we're doing good. But it is nice to be back and home's feeling like home. And so it was a wonderful trip. We'll get into that in a little bit, in just a little bit. But I did have a few announcements, and as we normally do start with prayer requests. Yesterday, I sent one out for Mary Ellen, who's here with us today. And as you know, her sister died unexpectedly last week on December 26th. She did want me to pass along. She thanks everybody for their prayers and for the card. She knows that she has an extended family with all of us here, and she's very grateful she was saying for that. And so please continue, though, to remember her. It's not easy, and as we all know, the grief comes and goes. And it's tough when you... she referenced... she called her my prayer partner.

So that is tough when you lose somebody that had... she even mentioned... brought her... started teaching her about God's ways and the truths that we all have. And so it's special when you realize that somebody like that was working... God was working through somebody and for her. So please remember Mary Ellen as she continues to go through that. You'll also saw that there's a prayer request for Dorla Underwood. Many of you know Dawn Hysulski and Terri Backus from Ann Arbor, and their mother Dorla has been a faithful member for many years, and this week they had to make the tough decision to transfer her into a long-term... a long-term care facility. So an assisted living because of the dementia difficulties. And so it's tough for her to see Dorla that way. We... I visited with her this week, and you could tell her mind's not where it once was, even since we've been up here in a little bit of time. But at the same time, we were able to get through and talk and laugh a little bit with her. But of course, it's very difficult for the daughters to have to make that decision for their mother and to know that they're trying now to find their new normal in life. What does this feel like for them? So if you can remember both Terri and Dawn, and of course their mother and their prayers, they would all very much appreciate it. There's also another prayer request that was sent out yesterday. This was for... and I'll read it as it's stated here.

Abigail Thumb has a Flemington, West Virginia, died suddenly on December 31st.

She's a daughter of Dennis and Meryl Thumb, who some of you may know from when they attended Ann Arbor in the past years. This goes a way back. But Abigail's sister contacted Keith Hobb and asked for prayers. So they know we are God-fearing people, and that we don't know where everybody's always at in their walk with God, but they know where we're at. They know those who have remained faithful. And so they reached out to Mr. Hobb and asked for prayers. And so we wanted to honor that and to share that announcement as well. And then we received also an update on Dakota Sheridan from Lena and Dan Van Pelt about how, I believe it was Lena's granddaughter's fiancee, who was involved in that car wreck, just in that first big storm that we had.

The update says, good news, Dakota is now at home and in a hospital bed and receiving in-home rehab. His pain is down and now working through PTSD. So I don't know what that means, if it's just from the shock of the accident and things like that. He's just working through the trauma mentally. They said, actually, he's tending to him also, and thank you for your prayers. And police continue to pray for Dakota's continued healing and the family's patience and healing as well. I wanted to pass those along. Just some general announcements. We do have, not a lot.

This is a light week. I think we finally got through winter break and we're getting into the love winter now. But this is when everybody starts doing things indoors. And so we start eating really well before spring break gets here and then we have to start exercising again.

But there is an announcement. Let's see. I don't think we have any teens other than Kelsey, do we?

And she's already heard this one multiple times. So the Michigan Teen Weekend, and I'll address it just from the standpoint that we're all invited to Sabbath services and the potluck that they're having also on the Michigan Teen Weekend down in Itzelanti. So if anybody would like to come down and just fellowship and enjoy the Sabbath and the potluck with the teens and their families, everybody's welcome. It's being hosted by the Lansing congregation, but they're using the facilities at Eastern Michigan to, I guess, have some gyms. And I think they're... I can't remember if there's going to be a pool. Yeah, an Olympic sized pool. And so they're using those facilities for that. And so, of course, it's a great opportunity if we want to get together that we can.

The only request is to bring a side dish for the potluck or bring something to share if you're going to come for that potluck. And that is on February 10th, the weekend of February 10th in November. So the 10th is a Sabbath. So I think that's about all the announcements. I did want to give an update on our travels and trips because we had an opportunity this year to go to Winter Camp. It's our first teen camp for all three of us. We've done pre-teen camps in the past, but this is our first teen camp. And it was a really neat opportunity to go. And as you know, it's an opportunity for our teens, but also for us to interact with that next wave, that next generation of the church, that hopefully someday I can retire and some of them will maybe be my pastor. That's the joy that we get to work with them and to see the growth and the way that God is working tremendously in their life. And so it was cold. I'm not going to complain about that, though, because you guys got the same weather we had over in Wisconsin. So I didn't get the brunt of it, I don't think. But as you know, it was a cold front that came through. The activities had to go on. We kept everybody bundled up and kept everybody moving in and out so that some would have indoor activities and then transition outdoors and things. And so I think the hardest part was for those standing around leading activities outside because the campers are running around playing different sports. They're taking hats off, gloves, they're dropping jackets because they're getting hot. And then I was standing out there trying to dance as much as I could just to stay warm. It gets cold, but Laura and I had the opportunity to run an escape room. Has anybody done an escape room before? No? Kelsey. Kelsey has and now we put one on. An escape room is kind of a new modern type of idea. I call it the cupcake. Let's see, what was it? The cupcake industry or the cupcake revolution that's been going around where they had cupcake places on every single corner almost like Starbucks. I don't know if you guys noticed that at least in Cincinnati there's cupcakes everywhere. You can buy them now and there's so many that none of them are making it.

Well, the same thing's now happening with escape rooms. Everywhere you go you hear about escape rooms and so many of them are kind of just popping up in little strip malls and things. But what it is it's a themed room that you walk in and then you have 60 minutes to technically escape from it.

And there's lots of puzzles, word games, different key safes, keys sit in different places. So what you have to do is you have to explore the room, gather all the keys, figure out the clues, and then they lead you to a way to get out. And a lot of them are... You've got to be careful. Some of the themes are kind of dark because that's what people like right now. They like being scared, they like magic, or they like ghosts or whatever. But there's a lot of really good themes out there, too. Like one... For example, I saw one that was an elementary schoolroom. So with the blackboard, books, a desk, teacher's desk, and things. And so you have to explore the room and figure out the theme and how to escape. So we got to put on an escape room there, and it was a good theme, trust me. It wasn't anything dark or bad. It was... The camp director was kidnapped.

He found a Bible artifact and some other people wanted to get it. So that was our theme. It was fine. But there's a lot of puzzles. A lot of... You take scrabble tiles, for example, and they have to un-code. You give them a little clue, and then they have to figure out what the word is and that word and then leads to another clue. And it's just a fun activity, but it was really neat to see the different age groups work through that. It's a team-building activity, so at the end of it, you get a chance to debrief and say, okay, what did you guys think worked well? What didn't?

How do you think different age groups would do at it? Because with communication, for 16 and 17-year-olds, they've learned how to work together, you would think, better than some of the others. But surprisingly, even the young... Kelsey Storm, actually, was the youngest, and they actually got through it in the fastest time. And so it was kind of neat just to see how everybody did and to talk about it, seeing the ways that people communicated, didn't communicate. It's just a neat activity. So if you ever have an opportunity, whether it's at work or for fun, to do an escape room, as long as you know what type of theme it is, they're pretty neat. So we did that. I did DJ to dance, my first time DJing to dance.

So it's a background. My nephew Aaron Creech is a pastor in eastern Pennsylvania, and he was a director. So you know how family is. Family just starts putting everybody to work, and you can't say no. And so Aaron asked several times if I would do the dance, and I said, I can never DJ to dance.

That's not my fourth day, I don't think. Finally, it got bad enough, and the fifth time, I'm like, okay, he really needs help here. And so I better step in. I thought it went okay. I got some feedback. We'll have to see and tweak it for the for future years. But so we DJ to dance. I did that, and then Christian giving topic, and then a split sermon for the Sabbath. So once again, family put me to work. But that's okay. It was a joy to be there, and it was a lot of fun. And it's a good segue into the sermon today, because while we were at winter camp this last week, we did have time to dive daily into last year's camp theme, which was building your relationship with God.

It's an important theme that we want to encourage our youth to recognize that they are being called, and God wants them to build a relationship with him. And as we were going through the weekend, or the week, and talking even as adults, we realized that's something that every one of us here is constantly doing. We're constantly building our relationship with God. Yeah, are we at different points collectively here? Are the teens at different points? Sure. But this is an important theme, not only for our teens, but also for each one of us, even long-term members in the church. Each day there was a Christian living class, which was presented by different staff at the camp. And each day a new sub-theme that would point back to the main theme of building a relationship with God. So some of the sub-themes was the first one was God is calling. We want the campers to all recognize, and all of our young kids to recognize, God is calling them today.

This isn't just some day they'll be called. Some day they'll know from Scripture we know because of the faithfulness of parents and family and grandparents, that the children are being called today. We wanted them to know that. The second sub-theme was building with faith, the importance of having faith and knowing that God is there, that He's listening, and that we have an opportunity to have a relationship with Him. Third sub-theme was pray with purpose, meaning to have a prayerful dialogue with our Father. Talk to Him as we would other people and recognizing the power we have in prayer. The fourth was learn from God. Study His Word. Talk to others. Counsel with those who seem wise. So, opportunities to learn from God by those who have continued to learn from God. The fifth was to respond to God, meaning accept the calling that He's there, and then respond by working and building a relationship with Him. Lots of these five sub-themes really kept pointing everybody back to the important aspect of building our relationship with God. One of the aspects of the Christian living that I did was the aspect of building with faith. Faith is a critical element that a Christian must be developing, each one of us, and continuing to maintain throughout all of our lives. It's not easy, always easy, to have faith when we can't see or completely understand maybe what God's will is for our life, but we know from Hebrews 11 verse 6, and that's where we'll start off today, and we'll spend a little bit of time bouncing back and forth into Hebrews 11. But it's impossible, as we're going to read here, it's impossible to please God if we do not have faith. So it's not just an aspect of Christianity that's kind of one of these lower tiers. This is a benchmark, one of the major building stones, one of the foundational stones to our faith, or to our Christianity, is having faith.

So in Hebrews 11 again, in verse 6, Hebrews 11 verse 6, the verse reads, But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Without faith it's impossible to please God. We all recognize that at times in our life our faith can be hit by really difficult challenges we face. We know we can't allow ourselves, though, to remain in those lows. I sometimes use the analogy of pitching a tent versus building the house, because sometimes we, the life does ebb and flow. Sometimes we are at the peaks of the mountains, and other times we seem stuck down in that valley, and we just dark and cold, and we can't see our way out of it. And while we're in those dark times, sometimes we just can't immediately work ourselves out of it. We wish we could get out, but we can't immediately just say, hey, I'm out of this, the problem's gone away, we can pray about it, but it doesn't always just make it happen. And sometimes God doesn't directly remove it immediately from us.

It's at these moments that we can either choose to pitch a tent or build a house, because sometimes we will have to need some sort of shelter. We do need to use God's word as that shelter, as that buffer, as a protection. But we got to recognize that's a temporary place that we're in, that God will get us through it. We'll have to wait, maybe it'll take some time, but we can pitch a tent here.

It's not permanent, but I'm not building a house in these lows, because God wants us to move forward.

He wants to provide a way of escape. Yeah, we may be here for a little bit, but let's not stay here permanently. It's at these low moments we desperately desire a way of escape, a way of healing, or a way that God provides direction for our life, and at these times we are often seeking direction and answers from God. I've heard it said before, if they only had more faith in God, they would be healed of their health trial. You may have also heard this personally, in your own life. Is this an accurate statement? Can this statement be supported from Scripture? If they only had more faith in God, they would be healed of their health trial. Before answering this question, let's first dive into God's word and see how He defines faith. It's important we always start there. The main point of the message today is we'll look at how faith is a complete trust in a holy and sovereign God, despite our circumstances, and that faith is not a way to control God and force Him to give us what we want. I'm kind of giving away the point of the message, aren't I, with the SBS? But we'll look at how faith is complete trust in a holy and sovereign God, despite our circumstances, and that faith is not a way to control God and force Him to give us what we want. So what is faith? I think the most straightforward and simplest answer that we have in God's word is just a few verses ahead in Hebrews 11 and actually starting in verse 1. Hebrews 11, 1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It's one of those weighty verses. We could sit around and ponder for a lot what this means, isn't it? The faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

The New Living Translation reads this way, faith is a confidence that what we hope for will actually happen. Like that, that hope, the things that we actually hope that hope for will actually happen. It gives us assurance about things we cannot see. As I mentioned earlier, faith is a critical component to our Christian calling and one that we wanted our teens at camp to build on.

While we were at camp this year, Orrin and I had the opportunity to be dorm parents.

Dorm parents are, it's usually a husband and a wife who in the evening around 9 or 9 30 meet up with the dorm for their end of the day meeting where they recap what went well, what could they improve upon, what is the schedule for the next day. And they invite dorm parents in. Each dorm would have their own dorm parent and we had the oldest girls, the G4 dorm. So they're primarily 16 and 17 year olds there. And so it was a little daunting at first because, what are these teens going to ask? What kind of questions? I give a message up here. Nobody usually gives me much feedback. But then you get what's really on teens minds today. And so I was a little nervous, probably more than I have been at most of the messages lately speaking. But they were very nice.

But they had some fun questions. The first one was, of course, they wanted to know how we met and what is our story. How do we get engaged and those type of things. Those are the cutesy ones.

But then quickly you realize they have some problems. Some of them have some difficult home lives, some difficult paths. And they're asking for guidance on why has this happened or what should where should I go from here. And they're being open in front of the dorm mates with some pretty personal things. And then you realize, God, you got to give me the answers because these are teens and they need encouragement. But they also need encouragement from your word.

Being a dorm parent was one of our biggest highlights at camp because it's an opportunity that you just get to be with these campers and to be that spiritual support, that representative of God for a few days with them. And it's a special opportunity. But one of the discussions that came up in the dorms was built on around an aspect of faith. One of the campers said, I know God exists. I know God's way works and I want to bring more of God into my life. What are the steps for baptism? That's a great question to get. That's one of those, it's like when you see that written down on a piece of paper or they say a verbal way, that gives you a shot in the arm because you realize they're asking for the most important thing that they could get in this life.

To recognize and to sign up for the most important commitment in their life. And that's special when you hear somebody ask that. And so I backed up and we started walking from the beginning that we know that it starts with belief that God is who he is and that if God is who he is and who he says he is, then he has promises and if he has these promises that he'll fulfill the promises. So we have to start with belief. But then quickly that belief turns into faith that God will reward those both today and in the future for those who diligently seek him. Whether it's today in our physical world or with eternity with him in his kingdom. But this is the beginning basics of faith for a lot of our for each of us when we started growing that way. But then of course with faith comes a responsibility to live our lives differently than we had in the past according to God's word. And with that comes the recognition that well we fall short. We fall short a lot sometimes and that we have to have repentance and we have to have forgiveness of that. And so we do repent and then which leads to a desire to be baptized so that we can have God's Spirit dwelling within us to be that helper that he promises. And so you get that opportunity to just walk them through this and to realize to some of them it's a daunting thing because they're like, I don't know what this means. Like what are the actual steps? Others wonder what's going on at Passover. Is this a secret club type of thing? Because they've never seen it. But to realize that what they're asking is great. These are what we want our teens to ask and you realize that God is calling them and he's working with them and he's building his relationship with them and that together as teens they're all desiring. A lot of them are desiring this way of life. So it's a wonderful opportunity to be a dorm parent. But then to have a question like this that comes back up about faith and aspect of faith in it. Faith is one of those building blocks of our Christianity and so you realize it is an important topic and one that we're going to work through today. Baptism is the greatest commitment that any of us can make in our lives. In Ephesians 1 we read that the Holy Spirit is actually our down payment on eternal life. Let's start working our way to Ephesians 1.

This down payment that is just an unbelievable gift that God will freely give to those who sincerely commit their lives to him.

Ephesians 1 and verse 13.

Here Paul says in Ephesians 1 verse 13, In him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. It says, which is the guarantee of our inheritance. The Holy Spirit is.

The word guarantee here could also be used or translated a pledge or part of the purchase money or property given in advance as security for the rest. We realize even like we'll say maybe earnest money today, money that is put forth on our behalf for something that we will acquire.

That is the Holy Spirit that we've been given, which is that down payment and that guarantee of our inheritance for eternal life. It's a beautiful, wonderful gift that God has already gone forth and is willing to pay that for us, to make us part of his family. We have our part to still do, but he's already extended that far for us. So going back to Hebrews 11 verse 1 again, from the New Living Translation. I'll just reference it since we'd already turned there once. Hebrews 11, 1 from the New Living says, faith is a confidence that what we hope for will actually happen. It's one of those neat aspects.

We all have hope, but that it will actually happen. It gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

To connect the campers to this verse, I use the example of feast gifts. Growing up in the church, this is the only religion I've ever had. So from my earliest memories, I always received feast gifts at the feast. And what a special time it was in life. Now, looking back, I don't remember that first feast gift I was ever given, but it left an imprint that I knew what it was in that, hopefully, future years. And then after year two, it becomes tradition, right? So it has to keep going after year two. But did I ever see my parents go out and buy those feast gifts? I don't remember. Do I know what they bought? Do I know where they maybe kept them and how they got them to the feast without me knowing? I didn't know any of those things, but I had assurance that when I was going to be at the feast, my parents were going to have some small feast gifts. It's similar in a way. It's a physical analogy to that, but I think it connects very closely because while this is a physical example, we know we've each been given so much by God already in our lives. So much.

If God has given us these things already, we can have complete faith that what He is preparing for us actually will happen and that will receive everything else that He desires to give us.

That word, all, as Mr. Stewart referenced in his sermonette, what does that encompass? It encompasses everything. And God is already planning to give us these things. We may not have them today. We live in a physical world. This isn't the final end of our race, but that is what He desires.

And because of the taste, because of those little things He's already given us in life, we can know with full assurance that those bigger things are coming. He's not one to just change His mind and say, well, I didn't save up enough to get these gifts this year for you. That's not the God we serve. And so we go forward in life with this faith in the unseen, and it's described as unseen in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 5. This is kind of one of the heavier scripture sermons. I don't think everyone I'll give will be this heavy in scripture, but when you talk about a building block of something like faith, it's not what I think. It's what God says it is. And so I want to spend a lot of time in God's Word today looking at it from different angles and making sure that we understand what and just review again the importance of faith as one of the key building blocks in our relationship with God. So this is 2 Corinthians 5, verse 5.

2 Corinthians 5 and verse 5. Now, he who has prepared for us this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. Again, as a guarantee. So we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We have to walk by faith, not by sight. It's pretty easy if I had everybody come up here right now and say, I want you to walk down this hall, go through the door, walk down the hall, and go into, let's say, the outer corridor there. It'd be pretty easy for you to do it today with the lights on, you're familiar with the building, it's bright out. It wouldn't take much faith in me to ask you to do that, would it? But if I blindfolded everybody and took you to another building someplace you weren't familiar with, and it was dark inside, no windows, and we all stood on one side of the building, I said, I need you to now walk across this dark room, there's a door on the other side, trust me on that, and don't worry about it, and we'll all be fine. Now we're talking a whole other thing, aren't we? Your faith just has to go up a lot higher in me, and I'm just some boy from Ohio, right? And as I mentioned this morning, Michigan beat Ohio State this year, so I might be setting you up. But yeah, to walk across that room, you don't, you have to trust that there's not a row of chairs in the middle. You have to know that there's no pits in the room that you're going to just fall down to with lions in the bottom or something like that. It takes a little bit of faith, a lot more faith, to do something like that when you're supposed to walk across this dark room. For we walk by faith, not by sight, and that's that that faith that we're supposed to be building in God to be able to walk in that way. This leads us to another concept of faith that is vital for us to understand, and that is, faith is a complete trust in a holy and sovereign God, despite our circumstances, not a way to control God and force Him to give us what we want. We have to believe that God is faithful and will honor all His promises to each one of us.

When we have faith in God, He will align our desires with His purpose when we pray for His will to be done in our lives. You can put in your notes Romans 8 verse 28, where Paul says, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. He has a purpose for you and me. He has a purpose to why He called us.

And it says that everything, all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. So we have to recognize that a component of faith is recognizing it's not just what we want. It's not just that we believe in a faithful God, but we have to recognize that our will has to align with His will. Our desires have to align with His desires for our life, that He wants to give us everything, but it may not come, everything may not come today. Sometimes we may try to force our desires ahead. I've done that.

And God may allow us to do things our way. It's not like the restaurant. Which one was that?

Is that Burger King? You can get your way. I forget the exact tagline, but it's not like that in life, in order that we may learn that sometimes our way doesn't work out, or to learn that we were on our own. I've been on my own in making decisions. I've been on my own in forcing what I thought was what needed to happen, and yet it didn't work out so well. So even when we try to force things in life, ultimately it's still according to God's ultimate plan for us. Because He can make good out of everything. How many times does Satan try to thwart God? And it looks like Satan's getting in the upper hand, but yet God always prevails. Always prevails. And so it's like that in our life. God works all things for good. But James gives a warning about our motives when we ask something of God in James chapter 4. James chapter 4 and verse 2 and 3. Actually, we'll read James 4 verse 1 starting there.

James 4 verse 1. Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure, that war in your members you lust and do not have, you murder and covet and cannot obtain? You fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and you do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. See how many times that through that that passage, Jerry, talks about what your desires are, what your pleasures are. And yet that is why we don't receive sometimes the things that we desires because of that focus on us. In the New Living Translation, the passage verse 2 reads, yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong. I love how just plain it makes it. Your motives are all wrong. You want only what will give you pleasure.

If we have only pleasure, will we develop the fruit that comes from enduring pain or challenge?

It's the hardest thing not to give your children what they want in a gift or food items, but you realize in the long run that's not what they need for their spiritual growth or for their physical growth or for the edification of who they are. That it's tough when we have to do that, but we recognize the greater goal here, and God does as well. If we only focus on whatever our request is, and this is an important aspect of this, we run the risk of being left with nothing if your request is refused. Sometimes in life we put 100% of our effort in our request, and that if it's not fulfilled, we're heartbroken. We're depressed. We're down. Because that was the one thing that we knew we needed or the one thing that we really wanted, and yet we took our vision off the hope and off the faith that we're always supposed to have, because that's rock solid down the road. But if we forget that aspect and only focus on what our desire is, what our request is, and that falls through because God says either no or not yet, then we run the risk of everything putting all of our eggs in one basket and them all coming crashing to the floor. And that's why it's so important that when we do make a request that we include the aspects of asking God for His will with it. And if it is a no, that He'd give us encouragement and strength to move forward, because we don't want our only hope to be in this physical world, this physical thing that we think we need, we have to make sure it's balanced, because sometimes the only thing we're left with at the end is faith. When that request is either denied or said not now, we have to go back to the only thing that sometimes we're left with is our faith and hope in itself and God's will, and that's all that we need at that time, ultimately, are those things. So we have to be careful that we don't have all of our desires in just that one desire bucket. So how do we develop the strong faith needed to walk by faith, not by sight? Romans 10 gives us a good place to start in answering this question. Romans 10 and verse 17. So how do we develop the strong faith needed to walk by faith, not by sight? Romans 10 verse 17 says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It's pretty straightforward there, isn't it? There are multiple ways that we can hear God's word. If we back up a little bit to Romans 10 verse 14, we see Paul begins to answer this.

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? We know that one of the ways that we hear is through the inspired word that God uses through those he's called and put into service roles with the responsibility of teaching his word. That's one of the ways that we hear. Another is that we know that we each have the responsibility to study and to meditate on God's word individually. You can put in your notes Psalm 119 verse 105, which reads, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. It's a common scripture that we know. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. It's going back to that dark room analogy. If God's word is a flashlight, you can navigate that dark room now. You can avoid stubbing your toe. You can avoid the pitfalls in that dark room. So we know the power that the way that God's word can be that encouragement that we need to help us to walk by faith and not by sight. And then also we know that God also, through our conversations with him as his spirit, prompts thoughts and ideas is how he also talks to us and as we can also learn. Let's turn to Jeremiah 29 as we can look at this third aspect right here.

Jeremiah 29 verse 12.

So Jeremiah 29 and verse 12. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. We know God's not away on vacation. I've mentioned this before. He's not binging on Netflix. He's not too far that we can't talk to him right now. It's part of our stumbling, stumbling blocks. We have worldly things that we get involved with, but not with God. He hears our prayers. He's always there. Any hour, any minute, short prayers, long prayers. That's the God that we serve in the relationship he wants to have with us. It says, when you go and pray to me, I will listen to you, and you will seek me and find me. As we heard in the sermon, again, the choices that we make to choose to seek him, and when you search for me with all your heart. So we know that it's through being taught God's word.

It's through our own individual study. It's through the prayer time that we spend with God that this is a way that we can grow our faith. Another way we, the second way we can grow our faith is by remembering that we are not in this alone. We're not in this life journey alone.

I've mentioned many times in the past, and even sometimes here with you, that one of my favorite passages is Ephesians 4. And so let's go ahead and turn there, because it really just does just bring all the aspects of our calling, the aspects of unity, and the aspects of this oneness that we have. That when we go through difficulties, we're not alone, and we have to remember that we're never alone through any of these things. Ephesians 4, verse 1.

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. Going back to the whole camp thing, reminding the campers, you're being called. We've all been called. That's why we're here. So Paul is saying, to walk worthy of that calling to which you were called. And how? With all goliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This harmony that we can have with our calling, this harmony that comes along with it, that when we work to strive for unity, strive for peace, that we can have this unity in this bond together. And in verse 4, because there is only, there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called, and one hope of your calling. Look at how many times, again, this word, one, is used. Verse 5, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. This oneness that unites us, this oneness that pulls us together. Your hope is not different from my hope. Your baptism and your Holy Spirit is not different than my Holy Spirit. This is the oneness that we have in that unity that draws us together.

So when we do have struggles, when our faith does get kind of bumped around a little bit, to realize we're not alone in this, everybody's faith sometimes gets bumped. But maybe we can draw closer together, talk to somebody and say, you know what, I've had a rough week. These things are piling up. These things are weighing on me. And to remember that we're not all, we're not in this alone. It's another way we can grow in our faith. A third way we can grow in our faith is by remembering God's promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us. That's in Deuteronomy 31, verse 6. And that He will finish the work that He has started in us. That's from Philippians 1, verse 6. God's promises throughout His Word are abundant. And at times when we struggle, at times when our faith might be bumped around a little bit, we got to go back to what did God say? What does His Word say? How does He view us? How does He call us by His children? And go back to the basics. Go back to the things that are rock solid, the things that can't waver. Nothing in this world can take away and demolish. These are those promises. These are just a couple that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and that He'll finish that work that He started.

Another way that the fourth way we can grow in our faith is by remembering that the answered prayers in amazing ways that God has worked in our lives. Sometimes we tend to forget the powerful ways that He's intervened, the answered prayers, the things He has done for us, because life today kind of takes a front seat. But when we think back and we see God's fingerprints on aspects that we can't deny that He was involved with, how many times have we prayed that, God, open a door, but He doesn't just open a door. He knocks it off the hinges. It's gone.

You can't help but to realize that you have to walk through it because it's right there, wide open.

And so we do. And then those times we've got to remember when difficulties come up or when we're trying to walk by faith, not by sight. Remember those times when we had to take those steps by faith, but then yet God showed us that that was what He wanted. We have to remember those answered prayers in those amazing ways that He's helped. Another way we grow our faith, the fifth way, is by making choices demonstrating to God that we have faith He is actively working in our lives.

It's an important aspect. Not only do we have faith and then go on with our life in that faith, but make choices today based on that faith. Let's turn to Proverbs 3 verse 5.

There's lots of scriptures talking about walking in faith, meaning we have choices to do. We have actions that we have to do. But here in Proverbs 3 verse 5.

Proverbs 3 verse 5, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, and all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your pass. He will lead us through those choices. He will be that encouragement when we need to make a difficult decision. He shall direct your pass. And if we acknowledge Him in everything we do, and if we lean not on our own knowledge and our own understanding, He will direct our pass and give us the encouragement we need. Not necessarily just choosing the passing lives that lead to more money, more power, but looking for that path where God is leading us. And as you know in the book of James, there's scripture after scripture talking about it's not just faith alone, but the importance of works. We have a responsibility to be actively working and making good choices in our life, ones that reflect God and how we keep His commandments, how we honor Him, and how we honor and love our fellow brothers. These are all ways that we have a responsibility, and we grow our faith by making choices that are reflective of God living in us.

It's not enough just to say, I have faith. We didn't have to show our faith by our actions.

And the regardless of life circumstances, we must follow God and be actively following God through our works. With this basis, let's address a statement I mentioned earlier. If they only had more faith in God, they would be healed of their health trial. This, of course, relates not just to health trials. It could be anything someone's praying for in their life. Money, wealth, blessings, jobs, whatever it is that somebody would fill. If they only had more faith, God would have then fill in the blank. Is this an accurate statement? Can the statement be supported from Scripture? The stance actually has a name in Christian circles today. One of the names is called Name It, Claim It. You may also recognize it as the Prosperity Gospel or the, I'm trying to think of the other one, Health and Wealth Gospel. But Name It, Claim It is one of the popular phrasings that I've seen. To be honest and truthful, I've seen it within the Church, within some members who will say things on Facebook. They'll maybe drop a Claim It on somebody who's going through a tough time. It's a topic that's been on my mind. It's one I've been praying over for a while because I feel like it needs to be addressed. We're going to look at that. Is this an accurate statement? That if they only had more faith, that the God would then heal them of their trial. We'll define the belief a little bit later, but let's first look at some scriptures people use to support. As the Bereans were known for diving into God's Word and proving it, we're going to do that with some of the scriptures, but in the reverse. We're going to see if what they say matches what God says. So the first one, let's look at Matthew 17 verse 19.

Matthew 17 verse 19.

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why could we not cast it out? Talking about they were trying to cast out demons and they couldn't. So Jesus said to them, because of your unbelief, for assuredly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to the mountains, 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. Seems maybe straightforward, doesn't it, on the onset, if that's all you read? But it takes two things for our faith to move mountains. One, faith, as we've already described up to this point in the message, that assurance and that belief in God and that He can do all things. But the second aspect is the power of God according to His will. To move a mountain for you or me today would take the power of God and it must be according to His will, also known as His sovereignty. The answer to the things we pray about in our lives are directly related to God's will for our lives. This was a teaching lesson for the disciples. Were they doing things on their own or were they fully trusting God? I believe they were probably kind of narrowed in looking for the physical of life today, of just casting these demons out. But then God says, well, if your faith was strong enough, you could move mountains. Well, is it possible today to move mountains? Or was Christ getting at maybe an analogy of a future time or of spiritual mountains that we face today? Many times I've had trials that felt like mountains, trials that I felt could not be achieved, not be fixed, not be moved by me. I can't do it.

This is impossible. But with God, nothing is impossible. And many times we have to just realize that there's a spiritual mountain, that we need God's hand and we have to have faith that He can move it. And yet that faith eventually does work out that that mountain is moved, that spiritual mountain is handled. Full faith in God comes with knowing that we are His mighty, we are in His mighty and powerful hands. He's never, as I mentioned on vacation, when we call to Him, and He's always and He always works for our good over the long term. This is that aspect that we got to remember and sometimes overcoming the obstacles or challenges in life is realizing that not everything we request today will lead to spiritual growth that God is looking for in our lives.

We could ask for more money, but is that going to lead to more spiritual development?

We could ask for a better job, but in the long run, is that what God wants for our lives?

More times than not, we have to let go and let God work in our lives. That's one scripture, another misuse of the scripture, and this one is a pretty popular one based on the research I was doing, as Romans 10 verse 13. Let's look at Romans 10 verse 13.

Romans 10 verse 13 reads, For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Again, with a limited view of the plan of God, the scripture could maybe appear straightforward. But we know from scripture that the kingdom of God is not yet present on this earth, and to be saved from our own wretched lives, we need a Savior who came and overcame this world. Along with this one verse, let's look at a couple that are in a similar vein. The next one is Mark 1 verse 14. Mark 1 verse 14.

Now, after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. The first scripture said, Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

This one says, He who believes, or I'm sorry, repent and believe in the gospel. So maybe belief is all you need. There's another one in Mark 16 verse 15, and then we'll kind of expound on these together in a minute. Mark 16 and verse 15. Mark 16 and verse 15. And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. So we see this common use of the word just believe. I think many of us, if we've been studying our Bibles and being part of this world long enough, we recognize that that is a common belief. Just believe in Jesus, and everything will work out fine. Everything will be okay. But we know from scripture included with belief is the keeping of God's commandments. You can put in your notes 1 John 5 verse 3. Mr. Stewart also touched on this in one of the scriptures he read, but in 1 John 5 verse 3 the scripture reads, For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. And let's turn to John 14 and verse 15. John 14 and verse 15.

Another supporting scripture for the other side of belief.

But what comes, the other side that comes from belief. John 14 verse 15. If you love Me, keep My commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper, that it may abide with you forever. Speaking of the Holy Spirit, that gift that we have received. So we recognize this is these are just a few of the verses. There's more that they use to support this, but these are some of the big ones. And on the onset, maybe they you could see where some people could be confused.

But it's pretty basic. It's pretty easy to read through that and realize there's more to it, that they're just skimming over the surface. And as we dove into a lot more verses, and we'll dive into one here, we see that there's a counter-side that is being ignored throughout God's Word when you have that faith. And as I mentioned before, there are problems with this common name it, claim it belief. So I looked at a few different ways to describe it to get some definitions of this theology. And so the first one, I don't quote from Wikipedia too often. So don't just think I've lost my rocker when I quote from here. But when you do a lot of research and studying, and then you come across a pretty good, concise definition, and then you realize it's Wikipedia, you're like, great. But I'll go ahead and quote from it because I think they summarized it pretty well. Wikipedia.com says, Prosperity Theology is another name, also known as Word of Faith, Prosperity Gospel, Health and Wealth Gospel, or Gospel of Success. The definition is a religious belief that the financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them and that faith. Positive speech and donations. I mean, I'm kind of, I missed the flow of this.

Let me start over. I want to, because it's very slow. The definition is a religious belief that financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them and that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes will increase one's material wealth.

Prosperity Theology views the Bible as a contract between God and humans. If humans have faith in God, he will deliver security and prosperity. Another definition came from RationalWiki.com.

RationalWiki. I'm sorry, RationalWiki.org, and this is defining name it, claim it.

The Bible contains numerous promises from God to Christian believers, but that believers have to claim the promise before it can be effective. Meaning, we know God's words are all throughout his words, a lot of times speaking of healing. So, if you claim his healing, then he's bound to do it. That's his belief. Barbara Ekenreich, an American author, wrote a book titled This Land is Their Land, reports from a divided nation, and in it she references this theology that's become prevalent. She says, our critical faculties were dimmed by the habit, an epidemic of the 2000s, of magical thinking. One of the biggest self-help best sellers of the era tells you how you can have anything you want simply by willing it. And the fiction side of the bookstore, so you've got the religious side of the bookstore, and the fiction side of the bookstore was ruled by a young magician in training. And she goes on to say, the fastest growing brand of religion is of the magical name it, claimant, variety, in which the deity exists only to meet one's immediate self-identified needs. End quote. By having a belief that we can get what we want rather than having full and complete faith in God, even during times as severe trials or challenges, we are playing God. When we just really want to get down to the crux of the issue with that type of a belief, we are playing God. As we've looked at before, faith is a complete trust in a holy and sovereign God despite our circumstances, not a way to control God and to force Him to give us what we want. And ultimately, the false teaching gets down to this premise. What you think or believe will happen is ultimately what controls what will happen. Believing and thinking that God has to bless me will ultimately lead to blessings. It has to happen. That's what it gets down to with the crux of this false teaching. This belief is playing wrong, and it's not scriptural. And not only that, it's actually dangerous for one to believe because it can lead to doubt, disappointment, and loss of faith. All things that Satan wants to either pile on us, doubt, or things he wants to rob from us, which is our faith. So we must be very careful when we hear these beliefs, whether it's inside our own church circles, whether it's books, or whether you turn on the Sunday morning shows and a religious person is up there preaching about something that just does not align with God's Word. Sadly, some of the biggest churches, and most popular churches, is what this is being preached at today.

To counter this belief, let's look at Christ's own words from Matthew 16.

Matthew 16.

Here in Matthew 16, we have Jesus Christ making the statement that we must be willing to lay down our lives, or lay aside our lives or anything that we desire, even if it means our own life. We have to be willing to even lay that down. Matthew 16 in verse 24.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. There's a lot of meat in this one little short verse.

So Jesus says, if anyone desires to come after me, if anybody chooses to come after me, as we heard this morning, or this with the first message, if you want to choose this way of life, God has called us and it comes down to a choice. Are you going to choose to follow God's way or my way, my human nature way? So Christ says, if anyone desires to come after me, so desire, make that choice, let him deny himself. This isn't just denying that second donut that I could have had this morning. That's not the type of deny that's being referenced here. This is meaning utterly deny. This means to just be sickened with whatever that is. Think about it's the same use of the word that when Peter, when Christ said that Peter would deny him three times, this is what same use of the word. And we know that Peter says, I don't even know that man. He utterly denied Christ, separated himself from Christ. That's what it's saying here. Let him deny himself, his own nature, his own will for life, and take up his cross. Notice that's a lowercase h. That's our individual trials, our individual workings that we have to go through sometimes in life and bear that cross. Let him take up his cross as tough decisions, as trials, as challenges in life, and then do what? Follow him.

Follow me, Christ says, which means then to go forth on a different path from our own, even with the weight of our own trials, but to follow Christ, following his footsteps. He's blazing that trail in life, and we have to be lockstep right behind him. So again, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world?

If he's the richest man, if he's the CEO of the biggest company, he has the nicest suit on the block? What's it matter? Is what he's getting at. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each according to his works. I don't know about you, but I don't see any promises from an easy life in that passage. I don't see that, well, you have faith, you believe, and you become baptized.

From that point on, it's easy breezy. Smooth sailing. Whatever your heart desires, I'll give it to you, because all you have to do is claim it, name it, and claim it, and I'll give it. It just doesn't fit with Scripture, and this is just one example. Christ's message here is one of self-denial, but the name it, claim it belief is one of self-satisfaction. Whatever I want, I should be able to have. This name it, claim it belief avoids becoming more Christ-like, because it falls into the idea that we can avoid enduring through the challenges of life when we just claim what we need. We need more money, claim it.

You can avoid that trial. You need better health, claim it. You can avoid having to go to the doctors and happen to learn what it is that God wants you to learn. We do have to recognize, does it take faith to be healed? Yeah, it does. We have to have faith, but again, what is faith? It's what we've gone through the whole first part of this message. Many believe faith is simply believing in the existence of God and Jesus, but in a recent Beyond Today, our TV program that we saw with Gary Petty as the host, he made the statement, faith is more than just belief in God's existence.

Real faith transforms one's life. Real faith means we're going to make different decisions than we made in the past. Real faith means we're going to have to endure difficulty when it happens. Let's look again at Hebrews 11, and we're going to read a couple more verses this time. It's good to circle back around to one of our best definitions that I've found in God's Word of what is faith in Hebrews 11. So, let's look at that again. Hebrews 11 verse 1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith, we understand the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

In verse 6, But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. If your sights are only focused on healing or something else you desire from God, then you may not be able to see what else God is doing actively and what he desires for you in your life. It's like those horses on the streets in downtown that takes people for rides.

They've got those blinders on. All they can see is whatever the rider wants them to see out the front. And if that's where our hope is on only wealth or health or whatever is out there and we've got these blinders on, then we can't see the other ways as we go through life that he's touching our life, that he's helping, he's working on us, because our only blinder is that one item out there.

And if we don't get to it, we're disappointed. But we miss the ways that God brings us into our lives through that encouragement when we need it. We miss on the things that he is doing, but we can't see them because of those blinders. You can put Ephesians 2 verse 10 in your notes if you like.

For we are his workmanship. This process, this thing that God is doing in our lives, we may see that health trial out there and that healing of health and that we'd love to have it, but we forget that we are his workmanship. It's that master potter with that lump of clay.

That lump of clay, if it had feelings, probably doesn't want to be moved around a lot. It's probably happy being a lump of clay.

And yet that master potter says, I have a bigger idea for you. I have a better hope and a dream for you. I want to use you. I'm going to massage and work you and change you, and it's not going to feel good clay. If you had feelings, it would be hurting right now. But that's what God is doing in our lives. And ultimately, that clay goes into the fire to harden it to the point it can be useful, it can be used. And many times in life, we have to let God be that master craftsman in our life, that master potter who is shaping and changing us. And it's through hurt, it's through difficulty.

But yet we come out on the other side a useful tool in his hand. Something that can be used as a decorative pot, something that can hold water, something that can be eaten out of, something that can serve a purpose now. Not just a block of clay that can't do anything. That's what God is doing for when he says in Ephesians 2, verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Did Paul lack faith?

And that's why his health problem was never healed. That time he prayed for God. Three times he prayed to remove that problem, most likely with his eyesight. Three times he asked, but God said that his grace was sufficient for Paul and that through God's strength Paul's weakness would be made perfect. We know that from 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9. When Paul was in prison, was that because he had no faith? Weak faith. What about John the Baptist when he sat there in prison before he was beheaded? Not enough faith, right? Many people could see where people can go with these things.

When you start to believe in this mindset of prosperity, of theology, of name it, claim it, you could see how a lot of the building blocks, so many of the building blocks, start to crumble in our faith. And that's why it's such a dangerous mindset to get into. It's not accurate in the sun. It's not scriptural. We don't see that. We see that if you read through Hebrews all the way through the end of Hebrews. You look at all these men and women who are listed there as faithful. That's not just a tagline somebody added. These people were faithful, yet did everything they want in life just work out as peaches and cream? No. If you read to the end of Hebrews 11, some were martyred. Some were sawn in two. Did they pray that that would be taken away from them? I can almost rest assured, yes. If I was in their shoes, I'd be praying for deliverance.

God, deliver me from this. Yet they were deemed faithful and still endured what they had to go through. The difficulty, the trials. We must understand God's word and the desires that He has for our lives to counter this wrong thinking of name it, claim it. When this type of earthly thoughts begin to enter our mind, we must remember that those who are faithful did not have all their prayers answered in this physical life because it was not in their best interest over the long term according to God's perfect will. It first takes belief in God to build faith, and as we grow in faith in God, we continually put more and more of our life into God's hands. Whatever it is that God decides to do in our lives, real faith is being at peace with God's sovereignty, His decisions for us. And we must remember that our hope can never be diminished because it rests on the promises of God. Hope that a better future time is coming to this earth and to our lives. Hope that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hope of an eternal resurrection full of complete healing and complete restoration. God did not send His Son, our Savior, to give us complete health, wealth, and happiness now. Christ came as an example to this world of God's fullness dwelling in men, and He came to give His life. And in doing so, paid the penalty for our sins, so that we each have an opportunity at eternal life. The last scripture to look at today is in Romans chapter 8, Romans 8 verse 16.

Romans 8 verse 16. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with Him, then we may also be glorified together. We must suffer with Christ to be children of God.

And when we endure that suffering, when we endure those difficulties that aren't removed because we pray and we ask, we realize that in the long term we'll be glorified together as Christ has already been glorified by the Father. This is an important topic that I did want to share.

I don't want to alarm anybody by saying that we've seen things. We've seen a lot of things in the church over the years. We recognize that some things have crept in. This isn't a major thing.

You're not probably going to go out on Facebook tonight and see it and things like that. But it's one of those things that things of the world sometimes do make their entrances into the church.

And it's something that I thought about and I prayed about for a while. I thought this was a topic that should be shared as just a reminder of what God's Word stands on things, that there are false teachings out there. But yet, that we can have hope, that there is faith, that we can have our faith bolstered knowing that this life isn't in vain. There's much to be learned, much to be carried forth into our eternity with God the Father and Jesus Christ. And so that's where we have to place our hope and we have to build our faith knowing that this is a stepping stone in our entire walk with God. Maybe one day, maybe just one trial of an entire eternity with God.

So let's just remember that. Keep on keeping on and keep doing our thing.

And God will be with us and our Savior Jesus Christ will be there as well.