A powerful reminder that we do not persist in faith because of any quality in ourselves but because of the incredible goodness of God. For the one wrestling with faith, be refreshed by this picture of an altogether good God.

ACF Institute 2017: Never Alone

<p>A powerful reminder that we do not persist in faith because of any quality in ourselves but because of the incredible goodness of God. For the one wrestling with faith, be refreshed by this picture of an altogether good God.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Adventist Christian Fellowship (ACF)

Israel Ramos

Persisting in Faith

We probably would get a lot of different definitions of what faith is.

And the classic answer is, you know, faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Romans chapter 4 tells us faith is, you know, believing God, that what God has said, that what God has promised to do, He will be able to perform.

Hebrews chapter 11 gives us an example of how faith looks like in different contexts.

So it begins with that very, very famous definition, Now faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

And what takes place after that is that it gives us examples of how faith looks like in different elements or in different contexts.

For example, verse 4, "...by faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and through it, though he is dead, he still speaks." Here, it talks about faith within the context of worship.

And here, it talks about the fact that faith will create a worship experience, right, that will ultimately transform the life in such a way that it will be a witness of righteousness in our lives.

It is through faith that Abel, through his worship experience, obtains witness that he is righteous.

By faith, Noah being divinely warned of God of things not seen, moved with godly fear.

And so, here in the life of Noah, we have an example of how faith looks like when we are warned of God, right?

When we are warned of God of things not seen as yet, then faith looks like moving and acting on the warning that God has given to us.

In verse 8, faith looks like obedience, right?

When Abraham has his encounter with God, that response of faith looks like obedience.

But the 1 that I want to focus on is the example of Enoch, verses 5 and 6.

So here we have an experience of what a person has, an experience of faith that a person has, an example, and then we are given a lesson regarding that experience.

And so we have this experience in verse 5.

By faith Enoch was taken away, so that he did not see death, and was not found, because God had taken him.

For before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God." So, in the life of Enoch, faith looks like pleasing God.

And then he tells us how it is that we please God in the following verse.

It says, without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that comes to God must believe 2 things, right?

And that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

So, when it comes to biblical faith, biblical faith requires 2 things.

It first of all requires the belief that He is, and secondly, the belief that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

So, faith requires the belief that He is, and the belief that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

The belief that He is, is the belief that He has the ability, the belief that He has the power, the belief that He has the wisdom, the belief that He has the availability, the belief that He is present, the belief that He is there, right?

And secondly, not just that, but secondly, the belief that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." In other words, 1 has to do with the power of God and the other has to do with the character of God.

1 has to do with the ability of God and the other has to do with who God is in His nature, in his character, in his being.

I grew up in California and I went to a public elementary school, and in my elementary school, I was a small kid.

But there was this guy that was a lot bigger than us.

His name was Julio, and the dude was huge, right?

And he was a bully, and you'd think the guy with the name like July would not be a bully, but this guy was a bully, all right?

And he would often take kids and he'd beat them up, he'd shove them in lockers when we're getting dressed for PE.

It looked like he ate rocks for breakfast.

His teeth were all messed up, and he was a bully.

I was thoroughly convinced, I was in sixth grade, I was 100% thoroughly convinced that this guy, Julio, was the most powerful man in the world.

I thought he could beat up my older brother.

I mean, I thought this guy was the most powerful man in the world.

I thought he could beat up my older brother, I thought he'd beat up my dad, I thought he could beat up Hulk Hogan.

And The problem with Julio was that even though he was, he might have been high school age, but didn't pass.

The problem with Julio is that even though he was all powerful and strong, the guy did not have, I did not have access to that power for my benefit, right?

As a matter of fact, that power was oftentimes used against me, right?

When I had to walk by this guy's house to go to school.

I'd have to run because I'm like, if this guy catches me, it's over, right?

He's like that bully dude in The Simpsons.

And so, what I'm trying to say is this, that if God was, or the fact that God is the most powerful being in the world, the fact that God has all power and all wisdom is not enough for you and I to base our faith in Him, right?

The fact that God has the power and the ability to supply all our needs is not enough for me to base my faith in Him.

I mean, Bill Gates has all the money in the world, right?

Can I write Bill Gates a letter and ask him for, like, a million bucks and have the certainty that he's going to give it to me?

It doesn't mean I'm going to get that money.

And so my point is that even though God is the most powerful being in the world, that's not enough for me to have faith in Him.

My mom is, I've never had a doubt in my life that my mom loves me.

There's been a couple times where I doubted if my wife loves me or not.

But I've never doubted my mom's love for me.

Now, the problem with my mom's unconditional love for me is this, that even though my mom loves me, she doesn't have Julio's power, right?

Like if Julio was going to beat me up, no matter how much my mom loves me, she's not going to be able to protect me against Julio, right?

And although there are some cases where moms have supernatural power.

I remember like we'd be driving sometimes in California and then like all of a sudden the traffic stops and my mom's natural instinct was to do what when she hits the brakes?

Put the hand out And I'm thinking to myself, I got so frustrated with my mom once that I just, I went off.

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Persisting in Faith

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