Faith and Works: How to Know Your Faith Is Real (James 2)

Speaker A 00:00:12 - 00:00:36 Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to Go Teach All Nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international And here is today's presenter, Matthew Bloomfield. Speaker B 00:00:36 - 00:49:03 Let's open with a word of prayer. Thank you. Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, as we open your word now, we just pray that you would close us in, in this time and space. Lord, we ask please that you would help us Well, Lord, you would take aside for us all the distractions of this world, all the thoughts that we have had during the week, our work, our everything, Lord, that it would not come to our mind at this stage. We ask please that you would bind the enemy, you would loose the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and in our minds, that we would not go away from this time the same, but that we would be drawn closer to You. Lord, not only motivated to seek You more nearly, but Lord, empowered to do so. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Who remembered what we studied last time? Grace. Grace. And what did we discover about God's grace, that it's not just pardon but it's what? Power. It's power to live. Oh, sorry, could you click back on the PowerPoint in the middle there? Just so I can click. Yeah, thank you. It's power for holy living, isn't it? We'll get there eventually. Now, as we studied last week, for those of you who weren't here, We studied about the promises of God and how we can use them in our everyday life. And how is that? How do we use God's promises as we're going through our life? What do we do when we're tempted? We stand on His promises. We stand on His promises. What was that, Barry? We call on Him. We call on Him and we remember the promises that He has given to us. And we discovered that there is power through the vehicle of God's Word. And so when we remember God's promises, when we choose to follow them, there is power in choosing to do that. And God gives us power for holy living. Now, as we think about this idea of God's promises and using them in our everyday life, is it enough simply to read God's promises? Do you think that's enough for holy living, to read them? No. No. No, it's not. Although you need to. If I read 10 books a day on bodybuilding, by the end of the week, how big are my muscles going to be? It depends how heavy the books are. How many times? Not much bigger, right? Well, it shouldn't be any bigger. Now, is it enough simply to memorize God's promises? Does studying help? No, but it helps and we should. If I can explain to you how all the proteins and various compounds come together, that when we lift weights and we tear those muscle fibers, they come together bigger and stronger than before. If I can explain that clearly, will my muscles grow? No. What about, is it enough to believe God's promises? Now, that is an AI-generated picture in case you were wondering. Is it enough just to believe them? No, it's not. Thank you, Jenna. Although you need to believe them. I can tell you for a fact, I believe, I believe firmly that if I added 1,500 calories to my diet every day and if I lifted weights 5 days a week, that my muscles would get bigger. I believe that absolutely, no doubt about it. But is believing that going to get my muscles larger and stronger? No, it's not. What's that? As long as you follow it. As long as you follow it. But that belief is not enough. So let's have a look at— let's open our Bibles. It'll be on the screen if you like, but I do encourage you to look in your Bibles for this one. If we go to the book of James, James has some particularly good insight on this. He says in James chapter 2, Starting in verse 14. What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, What does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is— what kind of faith? Dead. Dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Who else believes that? Even the demons believe. Even the demons believe. And how do they respond to that belief? They tremble. They tremble, it says. Now James here isn't contradicting what we've already studied, that we are saved by faith. Instead, he's describing for us what sort of faith it is that saves us. Notice what he says in that last verse. He says the demons have a right theology. The demons have a right theology. Not only that, but they have an emotional response to that theology. It says they tremble. They believe it and they tremble. But will that save them? No. No, it won't because they don't surrender their lives to that belief. And that's the key here. What is a saving faith is a faith that shows itself in a transformed life. And he specifically goes on in this passage to give an example of what that might look like. And the description he gives is someone showing love to a person in need. He says, it's not enough just to say the words. True faith acts out what we believe, right? By your actions. By your actions. This ties into what we looked at last week. We can take our belief in God's Word and we can exercise it in our daily lives. Do you remember some of the situations we looked at last week? I'll let David Newman and Dorothy off because they weren't here last week. But who can remember some of the situations we looked at last week where we might be tempted? Tempted to hold a grudge. That's right. And if we were tempted to hold a grudge with someone, what might we like to remember? Don't do it. Don't do it. Well, that's a wonderful promise from the book of Jonah. You may like to remember a scripture as well. Bearing with one another. Forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Remember, we looked at how we have this pathway that we can go down. When we're tempted, we can either choose to believe God's promises like this one, or we can choose unbelief, which leads to further sin. But if we choose to believe God's promises, what happens to us? It will happen. That's right. Another one we looked at was anger. When we're tempted to be angry, when we feel that anger rising up inside of us, as it's coming up from our chest and about to reach our tongue, we, we might remember a promise like this one: For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. We must have a faith that works in love. That's what we require. That is a saving faith. Consider for a moment the sort of faith that Jesus commanded as He was in his earthly ministry. Let's have a look at a couple of examples in Scripture. In Luke chapter 5, we're told of a story and it goes like this. Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before him. And when they could not find how they might bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. Then Jesus saw their faith. He said to him, Man, your sins are forgiven you. What kind of faith did they have? An active faith? It's a sort of faith that would lead them to carry a man all that way. It's a sort of faith that would lead them to, even when it's crowded, they wouldn't give up. And even when they pushed through part of the crowd and they couldn't get through the main door, what did they do? Broke the house. They climbed up on the roof and let the man down. How would you describe that faith? A trusting faith. A trusting faith. Someone said an active faith before. All these things, right? Their faith was visible in their life. Jesus could see it. It says, when He saw their faith. Now, that wasn't Jesus using some divine vision to look into their lives and say, oh, there's the faith dial. No, He could see it in their actions, couldn't He? Consider also this one from Matthew 9. And suddenly a woman who had a flow of blood for 12 years came from behind and touched the hem of Jesus' garment. For which she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well." But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her, He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter. Your what? Faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour. What kind of faith did this woman have? A believing faith. It's like the last one, isn't it? An active faith. Here's a woman who has this issue of blood, is ceremonially unclean. She shouldn't really be around people, or at least, you know, she would have been shunned from society for a long time. And here she is pushing through a crowd of people to get to Jesus. Her faith was such that even all these people turning and scorning at her as she's She's trying to get through to Jesus. Her faith was such that that didn't stop it. She pushed through. That is a saving faith. A faith that led her well out of her comfort zone. Do you remember the Canaanite woman who had a demon-possessed daughter? And she came to Jesus and they had this interesting interaction. She comes and appeals to Jesus. Jesus said that she had great faith. Do you remember in that story why— how it was that she had great faith? It wasn't just that she came to Jesus. What did she do? She didn't give up. She didn't give up. She persisted. She had a persistent faith. What about the woman who had an alabaster flask of perfume. Jesus said to her, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. What kind of faith does she have? Firstly, we know it's a saving faith, right? He says, your faith has saved you. How was her faith seen? That night, loving faith, pure love for Jesus, loving faith. She went out and purchased this very expensive perfume, ridiculously expensive perfume. She entered into what was a very socially difficult room with lots of leaders there. Simon had fro. Thrown. Thrown. Sorry, relapse. Thrown this feast. And so there are lots of leaders there. But she came in and what did she do when she came in? Don said that she had a loving faith. What was the object of her love? Jesus. She went to Jesus despite the, the sneers of people all around. Despite the comments, probably nasty comments, and she pours out this flask of perfume on his feet. And then she proceeds to wash his feet with her tears and her hair, the Bible says. This is a faith that works. All these things— or she could have had fear in that situation, but her faith didn't deter— allowed her fear not to deter her. I want to share with you an illustration now on this topic that I came across in a book called Tell of His Power. And I think it sums up this concept really well. Now let's just pray again as we go into this illustration. Lord, I ask please that as we look at this illustration on faith and works, that You would make clear to us in our minds. And Lord, I pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that we would feel our need of you, Lord, and your changing grace. I ask in Jesus' name. Amen. If you look around your home, you'll find a surprising number of measuring devices. If you go and have a look in your kitchen, what sort of measuring devices will you come across? Measuring jugs. What else? Maybe a timer. What else? Scales. Scales. What else might you find? Measuring cups, spoons. What else might you find in a kitchen for measuring things? A thermoset, a thermometer of some sort. Maybe you've got a candy thermometer for, for doing that sort of thing. Well, you could have a measuring on it. Now, anyone come across one of those things before? Maybe you've got that hanging up, a barometer hanging up on the wall of your kitchen. What does that measure? Pressure. Pressure, right? Atmospheric pressure. What about if you went into your bathroom? What kind of measuring devices might you find in there? Scales, weight scales, right? What else might you have in there? A thing on the wall. Oh, maybe you've got a height measuring chart. What else might you have in your bathroom? A thermometer, right? Maybe you've got a medicine cabinet, you keep your thermometer in there, all those sorts of things. Maybe your scales are fancy ones. We just got a new set of scales and it passes an electric current through your body so it measures how much fat and bone density and all the rest. So we might have lots of measuring devices in our bathrooms. What about in our garage? What kind of measuring devices are there? Tape measure. A tape measure. What else? Petrol can. Petrol can's got graduations on the side to measure how much, right? Tire pressure, pressure gauge, maybe to pump up— you know, when you're pumping up your tires. What else might you find? Well, you might have an odometer on your car. What else in the garage might you have? What's that? What do they measure? They measure size. Very good. Oh yeah, you might have feeler gauges if you're doing work on a motor or something and you need to measure the gap of a spark plug. Um, on your— if you have an air compressor, it'll probably have a couple of pressure gauges on it. Might have a thermometer there, maybe out in the garden instead. Uh, might have a multimeter or a voltmeter or something to measure things in your garage. What about in your car? What kind of measuring devices are in your car? Petrol gauge. Petrol gauge. How much petrol you've got in the tank. Thermostat. Yeah, thermostat. What's the temperature of the engine? What else? Speedometer. Speedometer. Maybe you've got a fancy car, you might have one that tells you the pressure in your tires, right? All those sorts of things. I think that's most of them. Rev counter as well. If you took all these measuring devices and you gathered them together, You quickly discover that there are 2 different types of measuring devices. One of them is for— one category of them is for measuring objects. Measuring objects like maybe you've got spoons or cups or a tape measure or a jug or feeler gauges. They measure objects. They measure the length, and the width and the depth, uh, the, the mass of something. Or you might have— sorry. And you have another category of measuring devices that measure forces. Uh, they might measure things like temperature, um, volts, amps, weight, you know, weight, pressure, uh, atmospheric pressure, all these sorts of things. Now, we've got our measuring devices separated into 2 categories. We've got one that measures objects, the length, width, and depth. And then we've got ones that measure force. So we have to think now, how do they measure forces? Because forces don't have length, breadth, depth, or height. No. or mass. We don't ask, how heavy is this light? Or, how wide is this heat? That doesn't work, does it? You can't say, how wide is this heat? No. No, it doesn't work. Um, so we have to, to understand how they measure forces. Somebody somewhere had a great idea. The way that you can measure a force is to let the force do some work. Then you use that measurement of the work that it's doing to measure the force. So let the force move a carefully calibrated needle across a gauge. You know, pushes a needle or pushes something up. Or let the force of the heat push the mercury up the column in the thermometer. It's doing some work. And so we know— that's how we measure forces, by letting it do some work. That will tell us what we need to know about the force. Uh, this is a good way and an accurate way of measuring forces. For instance, say you have a 50-ton truck. Anyone drive trucks here? Yeah. Yeah. So as you're traveling along in a truck, 50-ton truck speeding down the highway, it must be stopped. The way that it is stopped is by a relatively small amount of air pressure in a tank. And the truck driver is driving along and he's, he's driving along this 50-ton truck at 100 kilometers an hour Is he worried? No. Why is he not worried? What's in front of him on the dash? Gauge. There's a gauge, a pressure gauge, telling him how much pressure is in the tank and he knows when he looks at that pressure gauge, well, there's 100 psi or 120 psi, whatever it is, he knows that he is safe because there is pressure, there is force there because of the gauge and he trusts that. Because there is, there is in the tank, there's a carefully calibrated needle that's pushed upon by the pressure of the tank and it moves the dial up. And so he trusts his instrument. Airplane pilots are the same. They can trust their instruments to fly in total darkness or in stormy weather. You know, they fly by looking down at their instruments and they trust them. Ship pilots, do the same thing to guide them through storms, through rough seas. Their experience has taught them that their instruments in front of them can be trusted. This is just another way of saying that the forces may be measured with accuracy by the work that they do. You can probably see where I'm going with this, eh? From our experience, we can draw 2 conclusions. Forces cannot be measured directly. We can't measure the width, depth, height, but must be measured by the work that they perform. And secondly, measuring forces by the work they perform is an accurate and trustworthy procedure. Does that make sense? I hope so. This leads to an important question. What is faith? Is faith an object or is it a force? It's a force. It's a force, isn't it? Like we said last week, we can't reach into our bag and pull out a cup of faith. It is a force that works in our lives. It doesn't have length, width, or— well, I guess you could say it's got depth, but not in that sense. It doesn't have mass. Faith is clearly a force. And since it is a force, how do we measure a force? By the— by the work that it does. There's no other way. This is why Paul writes, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. This is how he describes it. And as we read earlier, faith without works is— Dead. He's describing the type of faith that saves us. Faith without works is not a saving faith at all. So basically what they're saying is the testimony of the measuring device, in this case our works, must be accepted. It's trustworthy. It's reliable. Just like the, the sea captain looks down at his instruments and he trusts them, or the airplane pilot looks at his instruments and trusts them. The absence of works in our lives means no saving faith is present. Does that mean that we are saved by our works? No, it doesn't. It's a faith that works. Because can the measuring device perform the function of the force? If we, if we took a thermometer, you know, if you get a cheap thermometer, you can shake it really hard and the mercury will go to the other end of the scale. It might go from 20 to 50 degrees. Are you going to get any warmer if you shake that thermometer? No. Can you huddle around the thermometer and get nice and warm? No. No, because it can't do the work of the force. It can't heat our house. What about if that truck driver took that pressure gauge and instead of allowing the force to do the work, he took the pressure gauge and tried to stop the truck with that? Would that work? No. No, it wouldn't, would it? It can't stop the truck. It can tell him, how much force is there, but it can't do what it's— you know, it can't do the work of breaking the truck. What about if I took a voltmeter? If anyone is wise as far as electricity goes, what if I took a voltmeter and I connected it to my toaster? Would it be able to power my toaster? Cook my bread for me? It's not designed for that. It's not designed for that, is it? Instead, it just measures the force that is there. Measuring devices perform a valued service, but they cannot replace the role of the force itself. Works provide a measurement of our faith, but works can't perform the function of faith. We cannot be saved by works. They just show us what kind of faith that we have. Amen. There's a good quote I like from Selected Messages. It says, while good works will save— will not save even one soul, yet it is impossible for even one soul to be saved without good works, because it describes, it shows us what kind of faith we have. The ultimate example, of course, is Jesus, the life of Jesus. We're called to have the faith of Jesus. How do we know what sort of faith Jesus had as we look at His life? By what He did. By what He did. That's right. Consider how His faith was expressed in His life. He lived a pure and holy life. He worked amazing miracles, raised people from the dead. He overpowered the elements of nature. He said, Peace, be still. and the sea was calm. The storm abated. He raised the dead. It was by faith that He endured the mockery of a trial, beatings, abuse, the crown of thorns being placed upon His head, His beard plucked from His face, the nails piercing His hands. That tells us what sort of faith Jesus had. Amen. We see it in His life. His faith— His was a faith that worked by love, right? It was His love for us that motivated all those things. It's unmistakable. It's easily measured. And it's recognizable. When we look at the life of Jesus, we see His faith. Which leads to another question. Who needs a measurement of their faith anyway? After all, let's think of God. Does God need a measurement of our faith or can He see our hearts? He can see our hearts. He can see our hearts, right? He doesn't need a measurement of faith. But are there others who need a measurement of faith looking on at this world? Who is coming to gather up the elect when Jesus comes again? His angels. His angels. Do you think they need some, some example or they need some measurement of faith so that they know the people that they're going to collect up are the right ones that they can trust to be in eternity? Do we need a measurement of faith ourselves? What about the world? Does the world need a measurement of faith? Yeah, they certainly do. The world needs a measurement of faith in order to distinguish between a believer and a non-believer. You know, there's lots of people out there that claim to be Christian, but we know them by their works or fruit. We know them by their fruit. So the world needs a measurement of faith. What about the church? Does the church need a measurement people's faith? It does. You know, if the church is going to be appointing leaders or people to positions, they need to know what sort of faith they have. And we— yes? Yes, it is. It is a declaration of faith. If we want to send a missionary overseas, we want to make sure that they have a good deal of faith, right? We need a measurement of faith. Most of all, we all as individuals need something other than our feelings to measure our faith by. God calls us very clearly to grow as disciples. We read, not that I have already attained, Paul says, or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do: forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. What kind of journey is Paul describing here? Which direction is it going? Up. Up. A grow. A journey of growth. Growing in Christ. If we don't have a measurement for our faith, how do we know if we're pressing forward or if we're pressing backward? We need to have a measurement. How would we know if what we are doing is making a difference in our lives? You know, I might say, well, I'm deciding to spend 2 hours in prayer each day. I need to know if that is is having an impact on my life, or I'm going to spend 3 hours a day scrolling through Christian TikToks and I need to know if that's having a positive impact on my life or not. Don't recommend that, right? I like this quote: All who follow on steadfastly to know the truth as it is in Jesus will know that there is still more to be learned. Expansion development and increase of faith and holiness will give us an experience in the religious life. And this is the law of the Christian life. Our experience will lose its freshness and power unless it is constantly doing what? Growing. We need to be growing. We don't want to stagnate. A child in its childhood is beautiful, but if as the years pass there is a lack of growth, If the faculties of the mind do not unfold, that child becomes a deformity. Experience will increase, unfold, intensify our powers. Such is God's plan in the natural and in the spiritual world. Says the Apostle, Brethren, be not children in understanding. Howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. You know, a week or two after Josie was born, we started— my daughter was born— we started toilet training straight away. And every time we would take a child and place them on the toilet and they would go to the toilet, we would say, well done! You did such a good job! Didn't you do well? We'd say things like that. But do you know how many— every time I go to the toilet, do you know how many people congratulate me? Not a single one. Why not? Because you don't know how to do it. Because as a 38-year-old man, I should know how to do it, right? Just as in the physical, we need to keep growing, so in the spiritual, we must keep growing. We can't be satisfied with the things that satisfied us at the beginning. You know, we could go into some examples, but I won't. We are called to growth, constant growth. If we are still struggling with the same things that we struggled with when we first became a Christian, That shows that there is an issue that needs to be addressed. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. That means that it's growing from faith to faith, step to step. You know, I like how Peter puts it— rungs on a ladder. growth. We as individuals need something other than our feelings to gauge where we're at, where our faith is at. Because if we rely on our feelings, we might one day find ourselves in disagreement with God. It's not inconceivable that God might come to us and say one day, Your faith has been growing weaker for some time now. And we might answer, Oh no, Lord, on the contrary. Lord, I feel very good about my faith. But then God might say, well, where's the evidence of that? Where's that shown in your life? What is your faith doing? And then when He asks us that question, we might have a bit of a clearer realization of our true condition because we need a faith that works. Is this legalism? Not at all. Because a work of faith can't be legalistic by definition. That would be a contradiction. Legalism is a work not of faith. That's right. In which no love is present. Remember, we have a faith, or we need to have a faith, that works by love. Consider, for example, you're driving to work in the morning and you stop at a newly erected stop sign in the road near your home. You stop, but you know what? You're not happy about it because this corner didn't need a stop sign. At most, it was a give way or maybe a rolling stop, right? Yes. And you say to yourself, what stupid officials we have here in Masterton. There's no need for a stop sign at that corner. I can see perfectly well both ways. This is ridiculous. But if I don't stop, I might get a ticket, so I'll stop, but I'm not happy about it. Is that a work of faith? No. You've performed a work, but it's not a work of faith. It's a work of legalism, isn't it? Is there any love involved in that decision to stop there at that stop sign? No. Are you doing it because you love the city officials and you want to please them? No, probably not. You have no desire at all to honour their wishes. Now, with man's law, that sort of action is enough, but with God's law, God's law is different. Suppose that you are being— going to be baptized, but you're not happy about it. As you enter the water, you're thinking, what a stupid old-fashioned ceremony. They should have gotten rid of this years ago. Don't they know that we can do this sort of stuff online now? I can tick a box and tell them that I believe in Jesus. Ridiculous! But if I don't do it, I might be lost, so I'll do it. What kind of work is that? Not a work of faith. Not a work of faith. It's a legalistic work, isn't it? It's not a work of faith. There's no love involved in that kind of transaction, is there? Or in that kind of work. It's a work of the law. A motion of law-keeping. Legalism. Again, man accepts this kind of law-keeping But God doesn't. God doesn't accept that kind of law-keeping. He won't accept empty motions of law-keeping. Only the fruits of faith that works by love can be a measurement of the spiritual force that is within us called faith. When we go into the waters of baptism— why do we go into the waters of baptism? To be cleansed. Because we love Jesus, right? It's a work of love because we delight to do His will. This is faith working by love, which is what Paul recommended to Galatians, what we read before. That same principle applies to every aspect of the Christian life, whether that's giving tithe, whether that's attending church, whether that's helping those in need. Let's fix our minds firmly on this truth. Faith is a force, not an object. Faith is a force, not an object. Therefore, it must be measured by its works, not by its dimensions, because we can't. Although the measuring device doesn't bring us salvation, it does give us an accurate representation of what kind of faith we have. Amen. Amen. Our salvation is of Jesus Christ. Salvation comes to us through the faith that embraces Him and it is proved to be genuine by its inevitable good fruit. That's why we look to Jesus. I also like this quote. Now genuine faith always works by love. When you look to Calvary, it is not to quiet your soul in the non-performance of duty, not to compose yourself to sleep, but to create faith in Jesus, faith that will work, purifying the soul from the slime of selfishness. You know, we can't neglect a duty that God has given us and then go and stare at the cross and hope to feel better. Instead, it works the completely opposite way around. We go and look at the cross and look at what Jesus did and that motivates us. That gives us the faith that we need to go and do what He has called us to do. Does that make sense? Which brings me to the final question. How is your faith? If God were to ask you that question now? How is your faith? Peter, Grace, Agnes, Henry. How is your faith? How is it growing? Is it progressing or is it stagnating? Because if it's not progressing, that's a problem, a problem that needs to be addressed and can be addressed. It's not an impossible problem to fix. Last week we saw one vehicle of growing in Christian character. And what was that? What was the vehicle that God used to bring power into our lives? The promises. The promises. God's Word. That's a vehicle that He uses. Some other vehicles that God uses is trial and conflict in our lives. Prayer. God uses prayer. Labor for the salvation of others. Talking faith. Talking faith. I want to set you a challenge. I want to set you a challenge because, you know, we, we come here and we listen to sermons and we go away and I don't know about you but even when I'm preaching I go away and I sometimes forget what I've just spoken about. Sometimes I do that before I get up and speak. I forget and then the Lord provides. Barry, would you better hand one of those out to every person, not just one per couple? I want to challenge you because the Lord has sent me a challenge. I'm not going to share it with you yet. One for every person. Yeah. I want to set you a challenge to test your faith. Remember, this is a— how do we test our faith? We look at what? Our works. Our works. I want to challenge you to test and to grow your faith. Barry's handing out a sheet here and it has some of the things that we spoke about last week. Uh, it has a number of challenges on it in different categories. I want to encourage you between now and the time that I come back and preach here again and 3 weeks, I think. In 3 weeks, I want to challenge you to do some of the things, the challenges that are listed on there. Most of them are in progressive order of difficulty and they're in different categories. You might already know the area that God wants you to work on. Normally we do. But what you'll find as you accept some of these challenges They might be difficult. And that might be God pointing out to you, well, this is an area that you need to work on. Maybe that's in serving others. Maybe that's in witnessing. Maybe that's in your prayer life. So if you meet resistance as you do these things, know that that might be an area that you need to work on. You'll notice as you go through the list that watching videos doesn't count as a challenge of faith. We're not interested in measuring somebody else's faith. We want to measure your faith. We have to be careful with this. Listening to a powerful message can make us feel good for a bit. You know, and we should listen to powerful messages. I said that last time. We should listen to testimonies because they do encourage us. Amen. But we have to be very careful. Let me give you an example. Say you want to build a garden. You want to build a garden, so what do you do? You go to the computer and you Google, how to build a garden. You go on Pinterest and you start gathering different pictures of gardens that you like, and then you start watching videos, how to build a raised bed, how to compost soil. And you watch half a dozen videos and you get to the end of those videos and you think, I feel pretty good now. I've done enough for the day. And you get what I call pseudo-faith. And sometimes the same thing can happen when we watch sermons and watch videos. We go away feeling that— we feel boosted, but it's not really our faith. It's somebody else's faith. Amen. And so each of the challenges in this handout are personal things. As you go through that leaflet, and I encourage you to do it prayerfully, write down which one you'd like to do. Put a tick next to it. You'll notice on each page that there are promises up the top. Remember last time? We spoke about how to use promises. You can point to those promises as you accept one of those challenges that are listed. Point to the promise and you can say, Lord, you have said that you can do this in my life. I believe you by faith. And then you go and do it and see what happens. See if you believe Him or not. And you will get a gauge of where your faith is at. And I'd ask you to do a couple of extra things with that. There's space on there to write down your experience because what I want to do next time is give you an opportunity to share the experiences that you have had. If you have something particularly interesting happen, please text me. I think you've all got my number. If not, it's somewhere. Write— send me a message. Let me know how your experience goes because I believe that once we start moving more, once we start testing our faith, God will reveal more of Himself to us. And when we come together next time, we will share what God has been doing in our lives. And I will share with you— I will do the same thing and we'll share what God is doing. How does that sound? Yeah? Yeah. Yeah? Okay. Let's close with a word of prayer. Before we sing, Heavenly Father, Lord, we know that you call us upward. Lord, we thank you for that. We ask please that you would grow our faith, and over the next three weeks, please point out to us any area that we might need to work on. Lord, that you might need to change in our hearts where our faith is lacking. Lord, help us to look to Christ that our faith may be lifted. Help us to listen to your word that that our faith may increase. Lord, and may we see your hand at work as we step out in faith because we know that that is where true Christianity happens. Not here at church, not in front of the TV screen listening to a sermon. But Lord, when we step out in faith for you, we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Speaker A 00:49:19 - 00:49:31 This message was made available by the Masterton Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit mastertonsda.nz. Speaker C 00:49:31 - 00:49:48 It's been our pleasure bringing you this program today here on 3ABN Australia Radio. Speaker D 00:49:50 - 00:49:59 Missed part of an Australian program? Listen anytime on demand at 3abnaustralia.org.au and click on the Listen button.