Faith and the Passover

One of my favorite examples of faith is found in the book of Daniel. There actually are a number there. We learn about faith by reading of the trials, the victories, the failures, and the exploits of the people of God in various situations. In the third chapter of Daniel, there is a story of Daniel's three friends, and of the image of the king, and of the decree for across the land to worship that.

And, of course, they refused to. But in Daniel 3, I just love the way it builds to this crescendo in one sense. That, verse 16 says, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.

And to me, that's a marvelous story that explains to us what faith is, what living faith is. A belief in God that is so profound that if it costs them their life, so be it. If God intervenes, so be it. But either way, their devotion to God, driven by their belief, trumps anything that man may do. We approach the Passover, and amazingly, two weeks from tomorrow evening, you'll be observing it here.

And we should consider the importance of faith and the Passover service. I've titled this, Faith and the Passover. We appear that night, and by faith, we profess that we believe God exists. We appear that night, and by faith, state that we believe God has, is, and will forgive sins, our own included. We participate that night and make a statement that we believe with all of our heart that Jesus Christ came, and lived a perfect life, and then gave His life for our sins.

We profess that night that we believe in what is pictured by the foot washing, and by the bread that is broken after it is asked to represent the broken body of Jesus Christ. And we take of the wine, the symbol of the shed blood of that Savior, Jesus Christ. And by participating all the way through, we profess that we realize there is an eternal purpose being worked out here below, because in Matthew's account at the end of that Passover service, he spoke of how he wouldn't drink of that fruit of the vine with Him again until he drinks it with Him in His Father's kingdom.

And the same is true for us. We look to that eternal family of God that He is building. So, in talking about faith, let's go back first to Hebrews 6. Hebrews 6, and here we have a listing of some of the, what the author calls, the elementary principles. We could call them the fundamental doctrines, fundamental beliefs of the church of God. Hebrews 6, verses 1 and 2. And here Paul, or whoever the author is, says, Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection.

And notice the six steps that he lists. He begins with the bottom rung of the ladder, and each one builds upon that which has gone before. Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works. And repentance we've spoken about through the years quite a bit. Repentance means simply to repent, to simply to change. But we find from the Word of God that repentance is something God must give.

Or one version, one Scripture, says God grants. Peter explained to the leaders at Jerusalem that unto the Gentiles, God has granted repentance. There was a time when we did not have repentance. You can read the Bible from cover to cover. You can spend decades reading it.

And unless God gives us an attitude called repentance, we don't have it. We don't have it. We can't see until God opens those eyes. So, repentance from dead works is where we begin. And then it says, And of faith toward God.

Look at this and remember the time when God worked with you. You began to realize, I need to change my life. And then you began to address some of the basic questions. Is the Bible true? Is it God's inspired Word? Is there a God? Is Christ His Son? Did He live a perfect life? We address questions on faith like the church. Jesus said, the gates of hell would never prevail against it. So, all of this is discerned by faith. Then it continues. Of the doctrine of baptism. So, in our own personal life, God called us. We were given repentance. We began taking steps of faith. We came to a deep conviction of the existence of a Savior. And then we realized, we need a fresh start. We need to have the past forgiven and washed away. And so, we were baptized and it says, baptisms. There's more than one. John had a baptism that was kind of a profession of the need to change. But he spoke of the one who would come and baptize them with the Holy Spirit.

And of course, there is the baptism of fire as well that he spoke of. Then it says, of laying on of hands. And when we were baptized, and we got out of the watery grave, and probably used a towel to get the water out of our eyes, we stood there and in the course of a prayer, the minister or ministers laid hands on us. The laying on of hands is also an article of faith. Of realizing that just as Jesus chose certain ones, He began a process and placed within the church a method of weighing fruits of individuals' lives. And then, impressing upon His servants the need to, as Paul told Titus, to appoint elders in every city. And so, laying on of hands. We don't have all the pieces of the puzzle. I think it would be wonderful if we did. But somehow, someway, I just have to conclude that there's this unbroken chain back across the ages. But, as I say, there are too many pieces of the puzzle that are missing. Laying on of hands of resurrection of the dead. Because we live out our life, we run our Christian race. And Hebrews also says, it's appointed unto men once to die, and then the judgment. So, the most certain thing of every life is the fact that one day the last breath will expire. We die, but, as Jesus said, the time is coming, and now is when all who are in the grave will hear His voice and come forth. Some to have their judgment, others to be welcomed into the eternal family at that point. And then, of eternal judgment. So, look at these as six steps in the ladder of salvation.

In moving toward perfection, we go through these six steps. Both John, the Baptist, and Jesus, the Christ, started their ministry by preaching the need to repent. And that was followed by faith. If we're going to talk about faith, we should define faith. We have scriptural definitions. We have scriptural examples. We should also check definitions as far as the dictionary. So, I went to dictionary.com. The word faith is a noun. First of all, it says it is confidence or trust in a person or a thing. And the example they gave was, we might say that we have faith in another's ability. We may have faith in another's ability. Number two, belief that is not based on proof. It said the statement could be made. He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact. Number three, belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion. It says, such as the firm faith of the pilgrims. And I think as far as we need to read, it goes on to other definitions, like a system of religious belief, like the Jewish faith, the Christian faith, and of course, some would say the Islamic faith. But let's go a little further into Hebrews 11. Chapter 11, and we have a definition in verse 1, and then more is added in verse 6. Let's focus on verse 1. Verse 1, now faith is this substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We have different realizations here that are woven together. It's kind of like in the generally epistles. You had James who wrote about faith, and he said, I'll show you my faith by my works, by the way I live my life. And of course, Peter wrote about hope a great deal. Continually talked about this lively hope that we've been given.

And John, as everyone knows, spoke about love, and they're all woven together, and cannot be separated one from another. The faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, that occasion when Christ appeared to the disciples and Thomas was there, he inspected the wounds and said, my Lord and my God. He saw, he felt, he touched, and then he believed. And Jesus said, because of you've done that, you believe. Bless your those who don't see, don't touch and believe. Now, I looked up a couple of old standby translations. Some of you will remember that were quoted a long time ago. The Weymouth translation of the New Testament on this verse says, Now faith is a well-grounded assurance of that for which we hope, and a conviction of the reality of things which we do not see. And then another old-time translation, the Farrar-Fenton translation. Faith is a standing ground of the hopeful, the conviction of unseen facts, and our fathers proved it. Let's go down to verse 6. He mentions Abel and Enoch, but then he comes back to faith in verse 6. But without faith, it is impossible to please him. And as we come on the Pass overnight, we want to please God. And as we address God anytime, we want to be found pleasing in His sight. For he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Again, on this one, the Weymouth translation renders this, but where there is no faith, it is impossible truly to please Him. For the man who draws near to God must believe that there is a God, and that He proves Himself a rewarder of those who earnestly try to find Him. Let's consider the question, why is faith necessary? And this is in the context of the Passover. Why is faith necessary? Obviously, we want to know that our Heavenly Father is there, that He is working in our lives, that He takes care of every need, that He protects, that He intervenes. Hebrews 11, verse 3 mentions, 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. Faith involves realizing that God created from nothing, matter, and the universe of matter around us. By faith, we believe that not one jot or tittle of the Word of God will pass till all is fulfilled.

Well, why is faith necessary? I'll give you four points. Number one is to know that God is with us. To know that God is with us. To provide the evidence that God is working His plan, His will, in and through our lives. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 31.

Deuteronomy 31, let's read verses 6 through 8. This is at the time when Moses' tenure in office, tenure as God's servant, God's friend, was about to draw to a close. His life was going to end. He was 120, and he was not going to cross the Jordan, but Israel was. Now down to verse 6. Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear nor be afraid of them. For the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you.

He will not leave you nor forsake you. So the words of Moses got inspired to Israel, but then in verse 7, He draws Joshua. He called Joshua and said to him on the side of all Israel, Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear nor be dismayed.

Now these words, many of them were reiterated in Joshua 1. This is a story just a little bit later. Moses, the servant of God, died. And God appeared to Joshua. And He said Moses is dead. And God tells him the very things He inspired Moses to write here. Be strong and of good courage. And God told him, No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life.

That as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And through the course of some of those miraculous events, when the statement is made, that God lifted up Joshua in the eyes of the Israelites because they realized they saw the evidence. They were convicted and they believed that just as God had led them through Moses, God was leading them now through Joshua. Let's go to 1 Kings 8.

1 Kings 8 is a beautiful chapter. It's Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple. This earlier Solomon was a man we all have a lot to respect. Sadly, later on, he turned to the other side. But as we read Ecclesiastes, maybe he came unto himself at the end. Maybe. We don't know. We leave that for God. We have the prayer at the dedication of the temple. The ark is brought in.

A marvelous prayer. If we want to learn how to pray, go and read the prayers of the Bible. Maybe sometimes just open the Word of God to a psalm. Or to a prayer like this. Or prayers in the book of Acts. And just lay it out before God. And just see if the thoughts are not impressed in your mind as far as what to bring forth to God.

But well into chapter 8, let's pick it up in verse 54. As he has finished the formal prayer of dedication. Verse 54, and so it was, when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the Lord that he arose from before the altar of the Lord from kneeling on his knees to his hands with his hands spread up to heaven.

Then he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice saying, Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to His people. Now this is still the earlier part. I know it's a few years down the line, but it's still the earlier portion of Solomon's reign. Solomon's reign was to last for 40 years. And that was the golden age of Israel.

It was a time when, as it said early on, each person dwelt under their own vine and fig tree. They had peace from all their enemies round about. There was a level of prosperity. And it is very much so a type IV in the Kingdom of God because the same things will happen. And at least initially, there was righteousness reigning in Israel at that time.

But this rest that God had given, rest is a picture of the Millennial reign as well. Rest to His people Israel, according to all that He had promised. Therefore, He has not failed. One word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses, may the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers.

And you could continue on. Just a beautiful, beautiful prayer that He prayed here. But a prayer filled with faith that God was there with them, leading them, guiding them, and being faithful to His promise. Now, you'll notice Romans 8, verse 31. Romans 8, reading verse 31. All writes and says, What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Faith is necessary to know that God is with us.

The apostle Paul obviously was a stellar example of one who walked by faith. He's a man who knew what was going to happen whenever he ended up at Jerusalem that last time. He knew where it was going to lead. He knew what it was going to cost. And he went on wherever God was leading him. If God is for us, who can be against us? And in the book of the Hebrews, we have some of those same words that Moses spoke.

If God, or rather, God will never leave us nor forsake us. And so all across the ages, God has impressed on His people that we need to walk by faith to know that He is ever with us. Number 2, why do we need faith? Number 2, to envision God's Kingdom. Or should we say to envision God's coming Kingdom? To see His glory in our mind. Moses. You know, when Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, that story that's told in Numbers 12, God explained to them, I speak face to face with my servant Moses.

Even apparently. But there was that time when Moses wanted to see God in His glory. I think it was a logical yearning we would have had as well. Let me see you with the dimmer switch turned way up. And God said, no, you can't handle that. But He did place him back in the clap of the rock, covered with His hand, and then allowed him to see a little of his back.

And the glory that he was in the presence of was still radiating from his face. And it changed Moses. He was different. There was a level of faith. He had his temper and he made his mistakes. But what a marvelous servant he was in God's hands.

We have, in fact, let's go to Matthew 16 right at the end, the story of the transfiguration. Matthew 16. We have three who are allowed to see Christ in His glory. At the end of chapter 16, the latter verses, He's talking about if you're in it to save your own neck, you're probably going to lose your life somewhere along the line. If you devote your life giving your life, your time, your energy, and love toward others, then you'll find eternal life through that process.

In verse 27, He summed it up, For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to their works. But shortly I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." Usually, chapter breaks are placed at good locations.

I don't think so with this one because the story continues on, and a few days later we see what happened. Chapter 17, verse 1, now after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, His brother. The sons of Zebedee and Peter, these were the inner three.

There were a number of times like the night He prayed at Gethsemane. He took these three a bit further from the others, and then He went on alone to pray, and came back and found them sleeping. These three seemed to be the main pillars that He was training. Peter, James, and John, His brother, led them up on the Ahi Mountain by themselves, and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light.

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with them. And of course, Peter connected the dots and recognized the kingdom and tabernacles, and He wanted us to build three booths for these men. But here we have these three, Peter, James, and John. And you know the process, the experience changed them. As you go to especially the books they wrote, that would be Peter and John, in the general epistles. James, as we know in Acts 12, Herod killed him with a sword. So his life was snuffed out after just 10-12 years. But Peter and John lived a long time, John especially.

And by what they wrote, Peter, you go back and he talked about this more sure revelation that they were given. It changed him. It did something to him. And the same is true with John. John, we sometimes forget that he was one. He and his brother were the ones Jesus called the sons of thunder. We forget about that earlier phase of his life that by nature, this city wouldn't receive us.

He wanted us to call down fire from heaven on them. But he changed. He saw something, I suppose, that day that changed him dramatically. To envision God's Kingdom. To see the glory that will be. And as we read through here in v.

2, what we just read, it reads like the verses there in Revelation 1 where John once again envisioned, saw, and he described in Revelation 1, verses 13 through 16, the description of the glorified Christ and His face like looking on the sun and His strength. Why do we need faith? To understand, number three, to comprehend God's order of healing. To comprehend God's order of healing. You know, we're limited, flesh and blood individuals. We're in our 20s. My apologies to anyone who might be in their 20s here.

You think you're going to live forever. You don't consciously think that. But somewhere by about age 50, you begin to realize things are different. We don't recover. We don't bounce back the way we did once upon a time. And it gets worse, I hear. I've been told it gets worse. I've been told aging is not for the faint of heart. And I'm beginning to believe in that. But God has an order for healing. We limited flesh and blood human beings tend to think first of physical healing. But God inhabits eternity. It's not a problem for God to allow us to suffer and die because in the process we learn. We learn things we might not see any other way.

Because He lives outside of time and space. And He'll bring us back. And there is that eternity yet ahead. But yes, we focus on the physical healing. Faith allows us to believe that God heals.

But healing first and foremost is spiritual. I'm going to think of Isaiah 59. I'm going to check the wording back there as far as what Christ quoted when He went to Nazareth and stood up and read. Not 59. Make that. That's close. 61. Close but no cigar. Isaiah 61, verse 1, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Healing primarily is spiritual. It's mental. Maybe including that is emotional because by creation, we're flesh and blood creatures. We have this brain, and yet with human beings, there's a spirit in man, but we're still not complete.

With the Spirit in man, the human mind can know the things of man, as Romans 2 makes clear. But it takes the Spirit of God to comprehend spiritual things above and beyond that, to proclaim liberty to the captives. That's talking about spiritual healing. We all have shackles that bind us. We often have sins that aren't as easily given up as we might envision.

And it is as though we are shackled. And there are things that we can do for ourselves in limited sense, but there's a lot that has to be done by the power of God working through us.

And the opening of the prison is those who are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord in the day of vengeance of our God that comfort all who mourn. And this is as far as we'll read. Healing primarily is spiritual. And there is that physical side. When Job was afflicted, he spoke of how naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I'll return. And blessed be the Lord. I recognize that. What we have in our savings accounts. What we have as our home. Our vehicles. Boy, if you just happen to have a John Deere 4530, oh, well, we're not going to take that.

Flesh and blood and John Deere and Chevrolet's aren't going to inherit the kingdom of God. What we take with us is the mind. And most importantly, the character. We retain who we are and what we have gone through. But most importantly, it's the Godlike character that has been developed across the decades of our struggle with ourselves. So God has an order for healing first spiritually and mentally. And in this life, God may opt to heal us physically. And we have seen that many times.

We'd like to see it a lot more. But you know, there's a place in Psalm 119 where it talks about, it's good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your law. Sometimes it's better in looking back that we did hurt, that we did suffer, because we came to understand things we couldn't see before. So God may opt to feel us physically, but physical healing is always temporary because we still have Hebrews 9.27 that says it is appointed to men once to die and after that, the judgment. We can be healed. In fact, Lazarus was brought back to life. That's a healing.

The Bible doesn't tell us, but I have not met anyone named Lazarus yet. Now, he died again. And there were others healed of leprosy and all kinds of things, and it was temporary. They still died. The more important healing is spiritual because that is permanent and that is eternal. And by means of faith, we can see the order that God has in healing. Why do we need faith? Number 4, to know that God reigns as sovereign. To know that God reigns as sovereign. Faith has been aptly defined as the degree to which we believe the promises of God. At times, God speaks to us by means of blessings.

And we're thankful. Blessings sometimes can begin to ruin us. J. Edgar Hoover once said, once upon a time, that if I want to destroy a people, I'll give them too much. And that is us. This country. We don't need God as a people. There are places around this world that will need the kingdom of God because life's all about survival instead of whether our clothing ran in the dryer. I mean, in the washer. The colors ran.

We have big problems, don't we? To know that God reigns as sovereign. So yes, God speaks to us by blessing, but He also speaks to us by trials and tests. James 1, very familiar passage, but always good to review. James 1, verses 2 through 4. James 1, verse 2. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

The translations put that as perseverance. But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Sometimes we bring trials on ourselves. Sometimes God allows, like with Job, Satan, to get in there and to mess with our life. Sometimes God may impose a trial on us. However it comes, God can use that. You can use that. What were the words here?

Perfect work that you may be perfect and complete. Let's go to Luke 22. Luke 22. We know Peter was a law. He was rather impetuous. He opened his mouth and spoke. Probably the others wished they'd said it, but he was the one that took the point. All the way to the very end. He was rebuking Christ and denying the fact that He would ever leave Him or forsake Him. And Jesus told him, before the rooster crows the third time, or excuse me, before the rooster crows, He will have denied me three times.

One account when the rooster crowed, their eyes met across the scene there at Golgotha. Their eyes met, or wherever they were at that time, a bit earlier. Luke 22, verse 31. Verse 31, the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.

Jesus recognized Peter and all of them were going to forsake Him. They wouldn't have the strength to endure. They could have stood there and made a confession of a lifetime and spoke for His character and His life. But they fled. And so would have we. So would we have done. It's interesting in looking at this verse. I think it's not just spoken about Peter, Simon. Satan asks for us as well. He'd like to have us to sift us like wheat. As a farmer, might have a wood frame with a little screen on it that will allow the wheat to drop through, but then some of the beards and the straw and the insects that get in the grain will be kept and can be cast aside.

Satan has wanted to sift each of us like wheat through that sieve. But Jesus said to Peter, I've prayed for you. And He prays for us as well. Peter at times thought he had more faith than he really did. He had to learn never ever go up against Satan on your own power. Mark 9. Mark 9. The story begins in v. 17. One came. One out of the crowd came. Teacher, I brought you my son who has a mute spirit. He described what happens, what this spirit that has possessed the child does to him.

Not only has it taken possession and control of his ability to speak, but v. 18, wherever it seizes him, throws him down, he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to your disciples that they should cast it out, but they could not. He answered him and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me. The child was brought, and of course, the spirit inside of him immediately convulsed.

And you see what is written here falling on the ground, wallowing, foaming at the mouth. There's 20 months away, I ask his father, how long has this been happening? And he said from childhood, what a horrible affliction! For who knows how many years? Often he has thrown himself into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said to him, if you can believe, all things are possible to Him who believes.

Notice v. 24. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, With tears, Lord, I believe. Help you, my unbelief. I think there are a lot of times we need to cry out to God and ask Him. Help fill the void. Ask God for faith. Ask God for strength. Ask God for a greater, deeper ability to believe the humanly impossible. Because that's the business God is in of doing the impossible. The story of the unjust judge and the persistent widow was told in the early verses of Luke 18. The woman went back to him over and over and finally wore out the unjust judge so that even he did something to help her.

And Jesus summed it up by saying, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? I think that's a fair question for us to consider as we look at the Passover coming up just very shortly here. A sobering question. Will He find faith in my life? In our lives? I'd like to shift and give you some separate points now and just some points on increasing our faith.

Increasing our faith. Number one is listen. Listen. And by that, I mean the Word of God. Primarily. And secondarily, to each other. The Bible is filled. In fact, let's go to Romans 10. Romans 10. A very important statement here. As far as how faith is imbued, is imparted.

We'll just break in and read v. 17. Romans 10 v. 17, where it says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The verses above, he has talked about, sometimes Paul called it the foolishness of preaching. Or like when Philip asked the Ethiopian if he understood what he was reading there in the book of Isaiah, the scroll of Isaiah, the eunuch said, how can I accept some man should teach me? And we all sit here as products not only of those who are avid students of the Bible, but we've had a lot of other people who God has used to teach us.

We see the Word of God through others' eyes and we learn and we grow. We hear it from week to week in our Sabbath services. We have magazines and booklets that come out. We have Internet programs that go out. All of this is important. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We have the Word of God that goes all the way back to the beginning. All the way into the future to a time that gets kind of fuzzy as far as our ability to envision it. But we have so many stories. We mentioned the three friends of Daniel at the beginning, but we also in that same book had the story of Daniel being put into the den with the lions that night.

And we have stories like David facing Goliath and stories like Esther asking Mordecai, tell the Jews, fast for me, three days and three nights, because you see, it was not lawful for her to go in before the King if she had not been requested. And she had to act, or her people were going to be destroyed.

And God intervened. She acted in faith. We have stories like Ruth. Where you go, I will go. Your people will be my people. We have stories like Hezekiah receiving this threatening letter from the general of the Assyrian armies and going and laying it out before God. And that night, one angel killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. And they picked up what was left and went home. We have stories like a man named Gideon who had to pare down his army to 300 and go up against the Midianites. We have stories like Jonathan and his armor bearer taking the two swords that Israel even possessed and going down the one escarpment and up the other in a flat area of about a half acre.

And they attacked the Philistines. And of course, an earthquake, and everyone is discombobulated, if that's a word, and fighting with each other. A great victory was given. We have all kinds of miracles that the Word of God tells us. But you know, it also in Hebrews tells us to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

It's important that we're here. We rub shoulders with each other, but more importantly, we hear each other's stories. We all go through our trials. We have trials with children and grandchildren. We have health issues. We have job hassles. We have friction within neighborhoods and communities and at school. And the acts of the apostolic people of God continue to be written. And we hear each other's stories. I just continue to marvel at this young lady in Australia. Sadly, it just breaks our heart that she's lost that entire leg. But what a tough, tough lady she must be to lie there in the 120-degree weather pinned under that stock trailer for that long.

And I think God has great plans for her. At any rate, listen. Listen to God. Listen to each other as we hear stories of faith. And faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Number 2 is obey. Number 2 is obey. Faith is given to the obedient because we read in Acts 5, verse 32. Acts 5, 32, that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is given to them that obey Him.

And one of the manifestations, one of the fruits of that Holy Spirit is faith. The ability to see, to believe is humanly impossible. Number 3 is face your trials. Face your trials. We can try to run from them. Anything that comes along, whether we bring it on ourselves, whether God sends it, whether Satan is tampering with our life, whatever the trial is, God has intended outcomes for everything we face. And when we are tried, we ask God, what are you trying to teach me?

What do I need to learn? What do you want me to see that I do not see thus far? Let's go to Revelation 13. Revelation 13. And let's read. The last part of verse 10. Revelation 13, verse 10. The last part, it says, here is the patience and faith of the saints. The New International Version says, this calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God's people. There's a similar statement in chapter 14, verse 12.

Chapter 14, verse 12. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Patient endurance in the face of trials builds character. It builds integrity. And we read the early verses of James 1 already where He talked about, let patience have its perfect work. Number 4, prayer and fasting. We read earlier the story of the man with the child who was possessed by an evil spirit.

We did not read quite far enough where to his disciples, they wondered, why couldn't we? And He said, this type only comes out by prayer and fasting. They weren't as close to God, and they weren't as filled with faith as perhaps they thought. And that powerful demon was not going to do anything that the disciples were trying to do. We have a churchwide fast that has been called. The chairman, Dr.

Ward, the president, Mr. Kubik, wrote to us over a week ago and asked us to come together as a church on April 22nd. And so, we look forward to that. To go to God together, praying and fasting, seeking God's will. I mentioned Isaiah 58 in that letter. Isaiah 58. And let's notice, the earlier verses speak of the wrong reasons for fasting and trying to do a penance and trying to force God to see it our way.

But then it abruptly changes in v. 6. Isaiah 58, v. 6. Is this not the fast that I have chosen to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? And we all have a heavy yoke. We all have our own shackles that bind us to sin and bind us to the past. It is not to share your bread with the hungry and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out when you see the naked that you cover Him and not hide yourself from your own flesh. But you go on and read some more.

Fasting draws us closer to God. Because when we fast, we are telling God that I want Your will over my own will even when Your will hurts. And a lot of times, the will of God hurts. And we can ask Abraham about that someday. We're going to introduce to Abraham and then at the end of chapter 11 of Genesis, the next chapter, get out of your country and go to the place I'll show you.

And then it got worse from there. We had to wait 25 years for that son of promise and then he was told, take that son and go to the place I show you and offer him there to me. And what does it say? So Abraham departed. He grew in faith. He grew in faith. Well, let me wrap this up pretty soon here. Alright, let's go on to number 5 is just simply ask. Ask. Do we ask God to strengthen our faith? Luke 11, beginning in verse 9. Luke 11, verse 9, So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened. Ask God for faith and then live your life based upon that enhanced faith. The final point, number 6, is love. Love is woven in here too. Ask God to lead you to a higher level of love. To love as He loves. Because love focuses first on the needs of others and secondly, of self.

In the love chapter, we're told that love is patient and kind and all kinds of descriptors are used there. Love is known by the actions that it prompts. And God has proven to us where He stands. Romans 5, verse 8. God has proven His love. Romans 5, verse 8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

While we were yet sinners, and out of one of us, worth dying for, Christ went, stepped in our place, paid the price. Because God is in the process of building a family. Divine will made a deliberate choice that one from the family of God would come, live, and die. Let's close in Acts 16. Acts 16 will begin in verse 29. This is a story of Paul and Silas being Philippi.

And as things often turn to Paul and Silas who are in prison, I always marvel at verse 25, where about midnight they were in prison singing praises to God. And the prisoners were listening to them.

And earthquake broke up the prison. They all stayed there. And Roman law was that the jailer, the keeper of the prison he's called here, was responsible. That if anyone got free, their penalty, whether it was death or whatever, was placed upon him. He pulls out a sword and is about to take his own life rather than to face Roman law. And Paul called out to him and stopped him. 16, verse 29, he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

So they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. And we know how the rest of the story went out. We come to the Passover. It is the night calling for the deepest faith and the promises of God.

We have parts that we will actively participate in. There is a foot washing part of that service. We kneel down or however we're able to do it.

Realize we have people with physical limitations and we make whatever accommodations are necessary. But we serve that brother or sister who to us represents the entire rest of the body. We demonstrate a willingness to wash away some of their dirt. We show our love for them. Respect, acceptance, and appreciation for them. Whenever we do that. We, by faith, participate. Then it comes the time of the unleavened bread. And those presiding will read some Scriptures and then ask God to bless it for its sacred purpose of representing the very broken body of Jesus Christ.

By faith, we perceive that Jesus, as Isaiah prophesied, was marred more than any man. And then we come to the time where the wine, the cups of wine are passed. But first, the blessing. Asking God to bless it for its sacred purpose to represent the very life of God, the life of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. So all of this, you see, goes back to the article of faith.

In the humanly impossible, belief in God and in the Word of God and in the promises of God. And by participating in the events of that Passover evening, we also profess in faith our deepest desire, looking to the time when we too, with Christ, will drink of that fruit of the vine anew with Him in our Father's kingdom. So brethren, have a wonderful Passover. Tonight to be an entire days of unleavened bread, and you'll be in our prayers. And God willing, we'll see you on the 22nd.