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Strong Tower Radio

Issues of Faith

Ariel Roldan

The Faith That Pleases God

Fresh Nana fell to the ground as a gift from God while the Israelites were in the wilderness.

It was Fresh from the ovens of heaven, baked by the master baker himself.

How the Israelites must have anticipated the taste and the smell of each morning's delivery.

Just like the Israelites, you too can now enjoy the taste and smell of fresh manna.

Today you will be listening to Ariel Roldan, pastor of the Cadillac and Lake City Seventh-day Adventist churches in the Michigan Conference.

We're going to be starting a new series based on faith.

The series is entitled issues of faith and this morning's message is entitled the faith that pleases God.

And we're going to be trying to get a better grasp in something that can become foggy at times, something that can trip us up and is actually a core part of the Christian experience.

So with all that said, let's just dive right in.

I have to tell you that number 1 you will need your Bibles this morning and I hope you have breakfast because we will be thinking we'll be doing some in-depth study is that okay if we study the Bible a little bit more in-depth this morning so have our thinking caps on and Let us pray and dive in the Word of God.

Father, thank you for an opportunity to study and to do it in a way, Father, that benefits all of us.

Father, thank you that you have given us something to attach ourselves to that rock, that anchor that is immovable, our Savior Jesus.

So instruct us, Father, from Your Word about this gift You have given to every man, this gift of faith.

I'm going to begin by telling you the story of a gentleman named John Stephen Akhavadi.

He was a representative of Tanzania in Mexico when Mexico hosted the Olympic Games in 1968.

I'm going to read to you an article that the Olympic Committee put out about John Stephen Ahvary, he's not going to be the 1 crossing the finish line first.

And usually the only people that make it to the news, the articles, or the archives are the first runner-ups, maybe the second, possibly maybe the third.

But the last 1, something amazing must happen when the news actually focus more.

They actually know more of the person that finished last in this race.

No 1 remembers the person that went in first.

For this reason, he began running and even when Tanzania sent him, they knew that they were not sending a gold medalist.

They were just happy to have someone representing Tanzania at the Olympics.

So they didn't have that expectation on Mr.

He began to run, and the change in altitude going from the Africa continent to the Central American continent, change of altitudes, things like that, He didn't acclimate himself very well, and he was starting to cramp up minutes into the race.

Charlie horses and all these aches that prevented him from doing the pace that he normally would have.

To boot, he got caught in an initial conglomeration of all the runners.

As you go through curves, sometimes all the guys begin to clump up together.

Playing soccer, that's happened, where everybody's chasing the ball, and you start running really close to other players, and your legs begin to hit each other.

And you know what happens when legs begin to hit each other and they're running?

He had a big gash on his knee, dislocated a couple of bones, and had a big gash in his shoulder.

He's going to go to the hospital and get sent back home.

But he said, no, no, no, send me to the medics.

And I want to get back in the race." So after bandaging him up a bit, he began to get in the race again, limping, slower with the cramps, the dislocation, the bleeding knee, the bleeding shoulder.

The first person to cross the finish line did so with everybody's applause and elation.

And people began to disperse and they kept counting the runners and they were like, well, we still got 1 more coming.

We're not sure when he's going to come through.

Several spectators stuck around and they're glad they did because seeing him cross the finish line was way more exciting than watching the first guy.

Because as he entered back into the stadium they saw a man limping, bandaged, He didn't look like that when he first came out.

And the crowds began to cheer, began to get excited about seeing a man that didn't quit.

And as he limped across the finish line, the reporters rushed to him.

We want to know who you are, where you're from, why didn't you quit?

He was asked why he carried on and his response has gone down in sporting history.

He said, my country did not send me 5, 000 miles to start a race.

My country sent me 5, 000 miles to finish the race.

He felt the responsibility of representing the reason why his country spent money and resources to fly him all the way over there.

He didn't want to go back to Tanzania and say, hey, I began the race and ran for a little bit but I got injured and so I quit.

He could go back home to Tanzania and not simply tell them thank you for sending me to run the race but this was a proud moment for Tanzania because the person they sent didn't finish first, he finished the race.

I would like to ask that we spend some time this morning contemplating this topic of faith.

We're going to start by debunking a faith myth.

I said it before and sometimes I catch myself wanting to say it but the scriptures corrects our perceptions of faith.

Romans 12 3 says, For I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you to think soberly as God has dealt to each 1, some translations say to everyone, a measure of faith.

It's pretty clear that how many human beings have been given this gift of faith by God.

Yet I remember being around my secular friends, I remember being around my church friends and some of them saying, I don't think I have faith, I think I've lost my faith.

Can you please pray for me because I don't think I have a sufficient faith, enough faith.

The Bible doesn't say that God has given us faith on condition.

God has given every human being the capacity to exercise this gift called faith.

But Satan will deceive us sometimes by confusing faith with feelings.

And because our feelings aren't there, we feel our faith isn't.

But no matter where you find yourself in your spiritual journey, atheists, do atheists have faith?

The human race thinks that faith is only for the religious, but the Bible says that every human being has placed their faith.

Speaking in the Christian context, the reason many of us feel that our faith doesn't work is not because of the we got defective faith from God, is that we are putting our faith where our faith does not belong.

It's not your faith that is failing you, but where you're placing your faith.

We sang a song as I was praying before entering the sanctuary, preparing my heart.

Will your anchor hold in the storm of life, when the clouds unfold their wings of strife, when the strong tides lift and the cables strain, will your anchor drift or firm remain?

But is my faith attached to that anchor or to something else?

Is not your faith that is failing you is what you're attaching your faith to that will always fail you unless it's Jesus.

So many Christians think, Pastor, my faith has not worked.

I have prayed, I have done this, and I have done that.

But maybe your faith is in you and not in Jesus.

Maybe your faith is in your job, your career, your relationships, or anything else.

There's gazillions of places where we can put our faith, but only 1 place where you can put your faith and experience the power of faithfulness of God in your life.

Not because you might feel you have faith but because the Word of God says, God has given to every man a measure of what?

Anti Faith Killer

We're going to be going on the third part of this series on faith issues.

And this morning we're going to be looking at the sermon entitled, The Anti-Faith Killer.

We looked at last week, the anti-faith, the great, the big anti-faith that is in the Word of God, that God warrants us about.

And this morning we will be examining how to relate to that faith killer that we explored last week.

I'm going to ask that you have your Bibles ready because we're going to be going through a lot of Scripture this morning.

Father, I rejoice to be able to share with my brothers and sisters things that have enabled me to experience your grace, your power, your genuine inner transformation in my life.

Father, I ask that your Spirit would teach us, open our eyes, grant me simplicity of expression, Father, and that through the study of your Word and the illustrations, we can better understand how the just, the righteous, lives by faith.

How can we have that experience even today?

In the name of Jesus our righteousness in his name, Amen Lord.

So we began to look last week and I want to ask that you open your Bibles to Luke chapter 7.

I want us to look at Luke chapter 7 and we're going to look at verse 2.

This is a way of reviewing what we've covered so far so that some concepts of the previous sermons are fresh in our minds so that we can identify and understand better today's message.

Starting in verse 2 speaks about a centurion slave who was highly regarded by him and was sick, about to die.

And when the centurion hears about Jesus, he sends some of the Jewish elders asking Jesus to come and save the life of his slave.

In verse 4, this is the key part, when they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored him or begged him by saying, he is worthy, he is deserving, he has merit, he is worthy for you to grant this because he has done 2 things and what are those 2 things Church?

He has built a synagogue for us and He loves our nation.

Because of those 2 things, Jesus, and because of those 2 things, you are to go and heal His servant.

But you should do this because of these 2 things that had caused him to now be worthy.

Verse 6 says, Now when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself further, for I am not worthy.

1 of the 2 things the centurion confesses he is not worthy of.

He is not worthy for Jesus to come to his house and he is not worthy to go to him.

I am not worthy for you to come to me but it's not that I'm going to defer and be humble and come to you signifying that you're great.

The Jewish leaders come to Jesus with 2 reasons why he is worthy.

The centurion says, there are 2 reasons why I am not worthy.

But say the word and my servant shall be healed." Jesus turns around and in verse 9 when he saw this, when he heard this, Jesus marveled at the centurion, turned to the Israelite nation, to the Jewish leaders and even his disciples and the crowd that was following him and says to them, not even where have I found what?

What prevented Israel from having such great faith in God, in Jesus, was that they had turned their religion experience into an economic basis of worthiness and merit.

We deserve God's blessings because we do this.

And that's how the Jewish leaders approached Jesus about the centurion.

But yet this centurion, guided by the Holy Spirit, could recognize, I am no more deserving of anything God gives to me because I built this synagogue and because I love the Jewish nation, I actually don't deserve anything.

Self-deprecation, self, oh I'm unworthy, oh I'm horrible, that's not faith either.

Though he did not feel worthy, he still asked.

Faith is not simply saying, oh I'm not worthy so I'm not going to do anything.

Faith is saying, though I come with no merits on my own, I do believe someone is worthy here.

And the book of Revelation continually repeats this throughout the book of Revelation.

Who is the only worthy 1 found in the book of Revelation?

So the centurion recognizes, I am not as good as these people think I am.

But I'm beginning to sense and recognize from what I've heard from you, Jesus, that if there's 1 human being that is worthy, that has merits as you.

So because of who you are, do I recognize I am not worthy?

I still feel compelled and confident to ask with the confidence that if you say the word my servant will be healed.

Not based on my merits, my worthiness, but based on yours.

So the great anti-faith is not doubt, it's actually merit.

And Christians, no 1 in the secular world is at risk of approaching God with merit.

This is a peculiar disease that is manifested only within God's people.

Jesus would not have said these words to the Romans.

He would not have said these words to the Greeks.

He said, I have not found this kind of faith in Israel.

Because if there was 1 people on earth that should have recognized who is worthy and who is not, should have been God's people.

So this stands as a very tangible admonition for us, God's people, that maybe, just maybe, I may find myself functioning, trying to be a Christian and relying on whether I am worthy or not.

And this is a very subtle, imperceptible way of living that dominated the Jewish landscape.

Even the disciples of Jesus thought like this.

So it's not something that we're like, oh, because I understand it, now therefore I won't live that way.

There are many people that know that we shouldn't yell, but we yell.

So for us, this is an invitation to begin to evaluate my spiritual experience, my motives.

Where does all of the desires for spiritual disciplines and devotions come from?

Is it in an attempt to be worthy or is it an act of faith recognizing that I can ask with confidence not based on what I do but based on who God is?

I'm gonna need a volunteer and I guess it's gonna be a little bit better than watching it on PowerPoint.

So I'm gonna ask my brother John Duman if he can come up again.

Now we're going to go through a little illustration, right?

So let's pretend there's a good friend that you have, right?

And you converse and you chat and you decide, hey, John, what are you doing this week?

You want to meet me someplace that you guys like to go eat?

And you guys are having a nice time chatting, eating, fellowshipping.

And of course, the kind of awkward moment comes when the waitress comes and looks at and your friend I got it I got it bro all right don't worry about it this is on me I invited you this is on me so how do you feel?

Awkward all right that's good 2 days later he calls you up again and says, Hey man Olive Garden.

It's got a brand new type of eggplant whatever.

Bro I want to taste it but I don't want to go by myself so I thought of you.

You guys are there, Olive Garden, chowing down on some good eggplant and whatever else and yada yada.

Now this is not like the Taco Bell thing.

Series

Issues of Faith

The Faith That Pleases God

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

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