Faith Over Fear: Finding Hope in God– Sermon Audio 2619

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 speakers. . And here is today's presenter, Pastor Daniel Christie. SPEAKER B 00:00:37 - 00:45:04 This morning, the sermon that we have is titled Demon or Pagan. And as someone asked me before, is this about children? I said, not quite, but you could almost go down that track. I'm sure there's a sermon angle there, but, uh, How many of you feel when we look at the current state of the world, things are getting worse? Show of hands. In fact, a recent survey was done not only in Australia but throughout America and several parts of the world. The statistic that came back was they asked, how many of you feel, or do you feel, things have gotten better recently for you? The percentage was about 20% of people said they felt somewhat better than they were in the past. I'd like to meet this 20%, by the way. But about 20%, which shows that the vast majority of people looked negatively at the current state of the world, especially the future. As they look forward, the overwhelming response was negative, was without hope, was discouragement about the future. When we look at politics or the environment, or we look at the money situation, Just to buy a house for young people is one of the most stressful things right now in Australia, whether it's the economy, rising cost of living, whatever it is, every single angle, social, whatever it is, it seems like it's not getting better. And I believe that it's in these times that God is calling for His people to stand strong. Do you believe this? It's in darkness that God's people are called to be the light of the world, the love in the midst of this. The news feeds us anxiety, the future feels uncertain, and many people are wondering what's next. They're biting their nails, their anxiety is going through the roof. People's stress levels are climbing as they look at the state of affairs. But God is calling his people that in the midst of uncertainty, to hold on to the one thing that's certain, which is God. In fact, faith is so essential not only in the midst of challenges in your life, but faith is the absolute essential ingredient in the Christian walk itself. But I believe right now, with the state of things, that God is calling us to truly look at our faith and ask the question, is our faith solid? Because sometimes we don't know our faith is solid until it's tested. Jesus says, build your house upon the— what, everyone? So that when the wind blows, it will hold. That rock is faith in Jesus Christ. It is a true stability in God. Now, many of us sitting here today will pontificate that we believe in God. Maybe you're not a Christian yourself, but even if you claim to be a Christian, what does it mean to truly have faith? The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:6 Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Romans 1:17, Paul tells us again that the just shall live by— what, everyone? Faith. And John, the aged apostle, says in 1 John chapter 5, verse 4, says, this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our Faith. Faith is the very heartbeat of the Christian life. Faith is the substance, the core, the foundation of what it means to be a Christian, what it means to truly follow Jesus. In fact, take your Bibles and turn with me to Hebrews 11, the great faith chapter, the honor roll of faith. Because as we look at faith together today, we ask the question, is our faith solid for the coming trials? Hebrews 11:1. And as we turn there, say amen if you get to Hebrews. Say, "Help me, Jesus, as I have no idea where that is in the Bible." But as we look at things for young people, I can tell you right now the future does not look good financially for young people. How many of you agree with that? The average cost of homes in Australia is well above the medium house price. Does anyone know what it is? It's above a million. Sydney is 1.7 million for medium house price. So young people, is your rent going down or up? How are you going to ever afford a home? This is the stress, one of many, many factors facing young people today. As a homeowner, I want house prices to be affordable for people. There's real stress for people going forward. Cost of living. —things have gone up 30, 40%. There's video after video showing from week to week they'll go back to the very same item only to see it go up in price. I was talking to someone recently from a third world country who's come to Australia and they just smiled when I talked about inflation. They said, "You haven't seen anything yet." They've been there, they've done that. Hebrews 11:1, when we talk of faith and the essential elements of faith, Paul describes or defines faith this way: Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Or in the old King James, hope or faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Sub, sub, submarine, substance, under, core. It's the root system of the Christian faith. But what is faith? In the book Education, page 253, I like these couple of quotes I'll give you. If we define faith— and we need to define it before we talk about what it is and what it isn't— faith is trusting God. Can you say that with me? Faith is believing that he loves us and knows best what is for our good. It's simple, but unless we get faith right, our foundation is not right. And the real scary situation within the Christian world is Satan doesn't mind, and I've said this before, he doesn't mind you coming to church, he doesn't mind you pontificating about being a Christian, just don't have faith in Jesus Christ. Well, I do have faith, Pastor. Do we? Do we? What does it mean to truly have faith in the Son of God? Education, page 253, another quote like this defining faith: Faith is the expecting, or is the expecting the Word of God to do what it says, and the depending upon that Word to do what it says. In other words, faith is trusting in what God says He will do. Sounds simple, doesn't it? But it's not. Faith, really, if we were to boil it down even more, is made up of two key words: belief. And what's the other word? Trust. Let me give you a quick analogy. Uh, let's look at this piano chair here. And if I take this piano chair, I look at it, I study it, I look at the metal on it, It looks pretty solid. The screws look solid. It seems to be made out of good material. I've studied it. I have the theory. I've analyzed this thing. I believe this thing will hold my weight. Do I have faith? I believe. What's missing? What do I need to do to have faith? I have to sit on it. That's faith. Faith is the combination of belief. I believe, I believe. I've studied, I've looked. Yes, I believe Jesus Christ is Lord. Is that enough? Belief is one thing, but trust must meet belief. Faith isn't magic, it's not blind optimism, like a lot of critics would say, 'Oh, we have science and you have faith.' One of the most stupid statements I've ever heard. Do you know that science comes from Christianity? The early great pioneers of science were Christian because they studied the natural world to learn more about God. Faith is trust in the character of God even when circumstances don't make sense. The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not what— it's believing that God is who he says he is. And we're going to unpack this a little bit, a little bit here. But in order to truly understand what faith is, as we talk about belief and trust together makes faith, we also need to look at what faith is not. And in fact, there are two counterfeits to faith that often come into the Christian church, and we want to expose those today as we look at not only what faith is not, but also deeper into what faith really is. And I call these the demonic and the pagan faith. If you turn with me, keep your fingers in Hebrews 11, and if you're willing to go to James chapter 2, towards the end of the New Testament, James gives us an interesting insight into a false faith. James 2:19. Keep your finger in Hebrews 11, we will come back to Hebrews 11. James 2:19. James talks here about a false belief. He says to the church, 'You believe—' How many of you believe, by the way? Put your hands up. 'You believe that there is one God.' Good. 'Even the demons believe.' that and tremble. In other words, let me ask you a series of questions. Raise of hands, how many of you believe that Jesus is God? How many of you believe that Jesus rose again? How many believe that Jesus is coming back? Awesome. So do the demons. So do demons. So what's the difference? The demons believe Jesus is God. The demons believe Jesus rose from the dead. They believe Jesus created the universe. So what's the difference between a demon faith and your faith? The difference is trust. They believe, they look at the chair, but for them, they will not surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord. They believe, they can quote scripture better than any one of us here, they know the Bible better than any one of us here, but for them, the difference is they will not surrender or trust themselves to Jesus as Lord. That's the difference. See, in the Christian life, it is easy for us, like I said, to talk Christianity, to pontificate Christianity, but the moment the trials come, do we truly trust in Jesus Christ when everything around us, we cannot see where it's going, but we hold to Jesus Christ, we trust to His Word, we stand firm in the direction that He's calling us, or do we straight away submit to the ways that we want to do it? What does Proverbs 3:5-6 say? Trust in the Lord. That's right. Lean not onto your understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. This is simple, but the greatest challenge we face is actually surrendering to Jesus as Lord. We believe that Jesus rose from the dead. We believe Jesus is God, but is He Lord? Is He Shepherd? Is he the king of our life when it comes to our stresses, our monies, our plans, everything in our life? Are we surrendering to Jesus, saying, 'Lord, I'm yours'? You see, the demon theology is like a patient that is deathly ill, and they come to a skilled doctor who diagnoses the problem, offers them the medicine that will cure them. The patient believes the doctor is competent, they believe the medicine will work, and even tells others about it, but he never takes the medicine. This is demon theology. We can sit in church, we can go our whole lives but never step out of the comfort zone to truly trust God, to let God work into those circumstances. It's hard because I don't think the enemy of faith is fear. It is fear, a lot of it is really just complacency. It's comfort. Things are the way they are. Or maybe it's busyness. We're just so busy, we don't have time to even think about stepping out for God, or whatever that looks like. Yet God is calling us to step out. Do you believe this, friends? Intellectual belief doesn't heal. Saving faith means that we must personally apply the cure, Christ's grace. Are we living with a demonic faith that says, I believe in Jesus, but they still live as if they were in control. A man stood on the edge of a frozen river. He's crossed this river before when it's frozen. He looks at the river, he knows it will hold his weight, but he never crosses because he doesn't fully act on it. How many of you believe the Word of God, but have you truly stepped onto the frozen lake? Have you taken God at His word, as Sister White says, taken Him at His promises as if they were true? Those of you who did the lesson this morning would have read in Joshua 10— not only Joshua 10, but in Joshua 1— God constantly speaks in the present tense about the future tense as if it is real. In other words, he says to Joshua, 'Go, the land is already yours. Everywhere you place your foot, I've already given it to you.' You see, the Christian faith sees as God sees, not as man sees. In the human sphere, we see the limitations of things. When God asks us to do this thing, well, I can't pay my rent, I can't do this thing. But the faith of God says, look beyond this to trust that God will get you through. You know, I was, uh, I was meeting with Sean Boonstra. Some of you know Sean Boonstra, um, from It Is Written, uh, Oceania. And he was running a workshop with a few of us evangelists, and he was telling us a story of this, this person who had a hair salon. And this woman, she was convicted in Jesus Christ. She believed in the Sabbath. But guess what day she got the most money at her hair salon? The Sabbath. And she was at a point where she realized that the seventh day was the Sabbath of the Lord your God, that it was linked to the fact that to keep the Sabbath was a way of standing and saying, Jesus is my Creator, my Redeemer, my Savior. And I'm gonna be willing to close the doors of my salon and to worship God and to make that stand. But she just was struggling. She was struggling to make that because she looked from human eyes and said, this is my best day. I get the most amount of money on a Saturday. Surely there's a way around this. And Sean Boonstra said to this lady, ma'am, how much money do you make on the day? And she said, X amount. Let's say $5,000, right? I don't know how much hair salons get. Let's say $5,000. Sean Brewster said to her, if I paid you $5,000 to close your doors on a Sabbath, would you do it? And she looked at— I couldn't take that off. He said, just, just bear me out, would you take that? If I paid you $5,000, would you close your salon to honor the Sabbath? She said, yeah, I would. She said— and then Sean said, if you trust me to pay you $5,000, will you trust God to do it? And the reality is That's what faith is, to take that stand into the unknown. I've lost jobs. I used to be a coach, a swim coach, new different jobs, and I've lost multiple jobs because I wouldn't work Saturday. I literally said, 'I'm sorry.' They said— they gave me warning. They said, 'We love having you here, but we need someone to work on the Saturday. It's our busiest day.' And I said, 'I won't do it.' And in my head, I will not be able to pay my bills. But I trust the Lord. So I lost my job. Week 1 went on. I kept looking for jobs, kept looking for jobs, kept looking for jobs. Week 2 came around. By week 3, I'm starting to wonder, did I make the right choice? My faith is tested. My bank account is shrinking. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I get a call. We have a job for you. It was better pay and better hours. Over and over again, I've seen God come through. If I take a stand for God, God never abandons me. Amen. To counter this demonic theology of belief and no action, we must act. We must step out. We must sit on the seat. We must step into the frozen lake. In this step, it takes courage because we can't see it. It's the evidence of things not seen. We don't know what the future will bring. We're not sure what's going to happen once we take that step, once we make that commitment. But here's the question: in that moment, do you trust God? Is God good? Because in the midst of uncertainty in your life, there is one certainty: God is good. Always. He will never abandon you, even when your eyes and your ears are telling you the opposite. Remember Job, who lost everything? His friends, his wife did what most of us do. They tried to rationalize the situation. Maybe you did something wrong, or maybe this thing happened. They were wrong. Job had faith. He says, I don't understand what's going on, but the Lord gives and the Lord takes. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's faith. We don't know why things happen, why things crumble around us. From human perspective, we can't see it, but we trust and hold to the fact that God is good. Charles Blondin, in 1859, was a famous tightrope walker. He was a gymnast, and he went over to the Niagara Falls and stretched a line 300 meters, 50 meters above the ground, across the Niagara Falls. One wrong step and he's dead. And the crowds gathered on both sides of Niagara Falls to watch this incredible man. And just with a pole, he walked across Niagara Falls back and forward. Eventually, he even got a wheelbarrow and stuck it on the line and walked a wheelbarrow across. Everyone was applauding. They couldn't believe it. When he got to one side, he yelled at the crowd, "Do you believe I can carry a man across in this wheelbarrow?" What do you think the crowd said? Yes, we believe! Guess what he said? Who would like to get in? What happened to the crowd? Did they have belief? Yes. But did they have faith? No. Belief's easy. Even the demons believe, but I won't save you. Faith Faith saves you. Faith. Thank goodness in that crowd was the gymnast's manager, Harry Colcord, and Harry climbed in trembling, and Blondin carried him across safely. Everyone believed, but not everyone trusted. True faith is active trust. And I'll add one more thing to this. We often think that faith is about how much faith we have. Let me give you a true scenario that plays up a lot. Have you ever been in a situation where somebody is sick, or maybe you've— it's a financial thing, a relational thing, and you've thought, am I lacking faith? I prayed for this thing, I've asked for this thing, but it hasn't happened. Is it because you don't have enough faith? What do you think? Doesn't Jesus say before he heals, let it be unto you according to your Your faith. So if you're not healed, is it because you don't have enough faith? What do you think? Mark Finley tells the story. I used to work with Mark Finley, and he told the story when he was a young minister. A man was walking along with a big cigar. Praise God, praise God. And Mark Finley said, sir, what are you praising God with? He said, ah, young man, I just got back from the doctors and my lung cancer is clearing up. Praise God! What do you think Mark asked him? Sir, if your lung cancer is clearing, why are you smoking that cigar? The cigar man turned to Mark and said, young man, if you have enough faith, God will stop lung cancer. Was he right? Ye of little faith. I'll come back to that question in a minute, but first let's look at this. What saves us? Is it the amount of faith you have, or is it the object of your faith? To give you an example, how many of you are scared of flying? Couple of people, okay. How many of you are totally confident getting on an airplane? Okay, how many of you have jumped out of an airplane? I've done it about 4 times, one of those weird people. When we get on an airplane, to some extent, you have to have faith that plane will get you to the destination. Now let's picture 2 people. One of them is someone who's totally confident. They got the headphones on, they're walking up, here's my ticket, I'm getting on, where's my peanuts? They're going to sit down. They have totally not stressed at all to get on the plane. They have full faith in the pilot and in the plane. The other person has one of those brown bags. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. And they get enough trembling steps up the thing and they help them on and they finally sit down. They put the seatbelt on. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. But did they have enough faith to get on the plane? They did. They have just a, just a tiny bit of faith. The other person has a swimming pool of faith. They're sitting back, they're ready to go to sleep. Turbulence? Ah, that's just rocking me to sleep, don't worry about it. But for this other person, any slight thing, they're going to die. But they've got enough faith to get on the plane. Will they both get to the destination? One only had a mustard seed. But Jesus says, if you have faith as a mustard seed, That's all you need. That woman who was sick, she said, "If I could just do what?" Just touch Jesus. Jesus says, "If you come to me with a mustard seed, I will work wonders." You may tremble, you may question, you may doubt, but just reach out. Peter says, "Lord, save me." Or the thief on the cross, "Lord, just remember me." Just The seed of a mustard is enough for Jesus Christ to work. For those of you with a swimming pool of faith, things are a bit easier. And faith can grow. So do you have enough faith? A.W. Tozer says this: 'True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the one who cannot lie.' In other words, when it comes to faith, let me ask you a simple rhetorical question. Do you trust somebody you know better or someone you don't know at all? It's the same with God. The level of faith you have comes down to how much you know him, how much you've trust him, how much you've walked with God and you've seen him operate in your life. In fact, the Bible tells us that the more that you study the Bible, the more you read the stories, the more you look at the way that God operates with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the people through history and realize they were people just like you and I. And yet look at God's mercy, he always comes through. We got this eagle eye view on humanity. And so I look at that and go, God is so good, and he can be good to me. And what happens is we grow our faith simply by reading the Bible. It says that faith comes through hearing, hearing through the word of God. In other words, the more I read the Bible, and that's just simply growing in faith, but more so when I step out and I take those words and I live them out and I come to realize over and over that it comes true, that God's ways work. I remember when I was a first Christian, I used to play rugby league and used to do all sorts of things as a fella in the mining towns in Central Queensland. When I made my stand to not drink alcohol, my friends came up to me and said, 'That's a great decision.' Is that what you think my mate said? No, I copped all sorts of blowback. I got socially outcast as some weird guy because I wasn't drinking alcohol halfway through the footy match, because that's what you do, right? And when I said, no, I'm not going to do this, and when I said I'm not going to go around with women, or I'm not going to smoke marijuana, I'm not going to make these decisions, it was hard because my friends were ostracizing me. But I held faith to the word of God. I said, I'm going to I stand on my convictions. And sure enough, over and over, as time went on, those same friends who ridiculed me publicly came to me privately and said, I wish I was more like you. John Wesley says that true living faith in the gospel is no other than a firm agreement of the soul that Christ is all in all. In other words, both Tozer and Wesley and all the great Bible thinkers would say this, that Faith is more about your knowledge of God than it is about how much you've got. Your faith, if you know who God is, if you love God, if you know that he's good, you'll hold firm. Because when everything else tells you the opposite— God's abandoned you, you must have done something wrong— you'll go, no, no, God is good. Can you say it with me? God is good. When bad things happen, God is When your finances collapse because you've lost your job, God is good. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The second great deception is the pagan faith. We will come to Hebrews 11, but let's read one more verse before we go there. Matthew chapter 6, verse 7 and 8. Matthew 6, verse 7 and 8. Jesus, before he instructs the Lord's Prayer, he gives a caveat, a premise about what is not, about what faith is not. Matthew chapter 6, verse 7 and 8, Jesus describing pagan faith— and there are many pagan Christians— he tells us here what faith is not. If you're there, say amen. Let me drink out of my Valley Girl cup here. Matthew chapter 6, verse 7 says, 'When you pray, do not babble like the pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.' In Jesus' time, the pagans treated prayer like a transaction. They thought, if I say enough prayers, if I do enough religious things, then I shall receive a blessing. In other words, if I bring my sacrifice, they'll bless my crops. If I give more alms to my gods, then they will bear me with more children. I shall receive— it's a transactional relationship. In other words, their gods were like vending machines. I put my money in, I press the thing, and I get my chips. This is a transactional relationship. But Jesus says that his relationship with us is not transactional. It doesn't operate like that. No matter how much churchy things you do, no matter how much religious stuff you do, it doesn't necessarily mean that there's a blessing coming. And this is a very, very important point because consciously, if I went up to you all and I asked this question that I asked before, in the midst of trials, if I said to you, is this trial in your life, is this bad thing that's happening, this death, this sickness, whatever it is, is this because you did something wrong? Most of you would say, "What? No, Pastor, of course not. I know that." But subconsciously, there's a part of us that questions this. We doubt sometimes when things are happening. We go, "Did I do something wrong?" Or, "Maybe I need to pray more. Maybe I need to— maybe God's punishing me." And it becomes, "Did I do something?" Because there's a transaction here. What did I do wrong in this relationship? So how does faith actually work? Because pagans believe, I give something, I do the religious thing, God blesses me. So if something bad is happening to me, let's say I lose someone in death, someone I care about, or someone gets sick, or I lose money, whatever it is, then clearly I need to do more religious stuff because there's a problem here. It's a transactional relationship. God says that you can do everything right and still have suffering. Let's take a look, Hebrews 11. If we go to Hebrews 11, the great faith chapter, we're about to see an insight into faith. Paul describes faith in Hebrews 11, and we're going to pick up here after his definition of faith. He goes on to describe what faith is. And for many people, even in the Christian church, they will believe that the more I pray and pontificate and give and more religious I am, then I will receive money, and I will receive things. This is a false doctrine. False doctrine. Hebrews 11:4, Paul tells us about people who had faith. They had what? Hebrews 11:4, by faith Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. Here he goes straight to Cain and Abel. Friends, did Abel have faith according to Paul? What happened to Abel? He got killed by Cain. That's not a good start, is it? Let's look at the next example that he gives in verse 5. By faith— who's that person? Enoch was taken up. Who's Enoch? Enoch was the seventh from Adam. Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death. So, so far, Paul, when he gives us an example of faith, he says by faith— Abel had faith and he dies. Enoch has faith and he lives. Isn't that interesting? So wait a minute, if I have faith, will, will God stop all my sicknesses like the cigar man? I will never get lung cancer if I have enough faith. Did Abel have faith? He dies. Enoch has faith and he lives. Let's keep going. Verse 7: By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. His next example is Noah. Did Noah have faith? Noah had faith, and God told him to stay where he is and to build an ark for the saving of his people. Let's take a look at the next example. Verse 8: By faith— who's the next person? Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. So, so far, if I have faith, does that mean that God— when I smoke my cigars, I'll never get lung cancer? If I do, it's because I lack faith. Or if I have enough faith that I stand for God, he'll always bless me financially, he'll always help me from sickness, I will never see my loved ones die, I'll never go through hardships. And if that happens, it's because I lack faith. Is that true? What does it say in the Bible? Abel has faith, he dies. Enoch has faith, he lives. Noah has faith, he stays. Abraham has faith, he goes. So what's faith? What's faith? Faith is not transactional. Many of you have been faithful Christians your whole life. You've done what God's asked you to do. And if in the back of your mind God owes you something, your life will shatter when he doesn't fix the problem that you want him to. Your house is built on sand if your faith is transactional. Father, I have done all that you've asked me to do. Why is my loved one in this hospital bed right now. Where are you, Lord? I've kept the Sabbath, I've paid my tithe, I've done what you asked me. Where are you, God? That's pagan faith. Pagan faith. True Christian faith, as Paul is showing us, is you can do everything right and die. You can do everything right and live. You can do everything right and stay. You can do everything right and go. Notice Paul's summary in verse 32. Jump to verse 32. Paul is intentionally giving us comparison by contrasts. He's giving us these different extremes because just when we think this is what faith is— I do this, God does this— he'll break that box open. Verse 32: What more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah and of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Let's pause. So Paul, are you saying that if I have faith that the fire won't hurt me, the sickness will not get me, the money will never go out of my bank account? Is that what Paul is saying? We've got to keep reading. Verse 35: Women receive back their dead by resurrection. And then he switches. You ready? Some who had faith were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might receive a better life. Others suffered mockings and floggings and chains and imprisonment. Some were stoned, some were cut in half, they were killed with the sword. Do this second group of people have less faith? They have the same faith as the first group. So what's faith? Is faith, if I trust you, Lord, you have to make sure everything goes well? Is that faith? Because if it is, that's a pagan transactional relationship. So why should we sit on the chair? Why should you trust God? To get something from Him? Why should you sit on the chair? What did we repeat before? Because God is— can you say it again? God is— [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Whatever happens, Lord, I don't understand it. As I'm in this hospital bed, as I've lost that job, in all of this uncertainty because my eyes cannot see, I know that You're good. Whether I live or I die, whether I lose it all, glory be to God. Glory to God! Stephen didn't realize, as the stones were pelting his body in the book of Acts, that his very death would bring about the conversion of a man called Paul, who would write two-thirds of the New Testament. We all will die. Lord, our life is yours. Whether I break a leg or heal a leg, make money, lose money, let thy will be done. Bring glory to you, Lord. Can you say that? Is that hard to say in this clinical environment right now? You and I— it's easy for me to stand here and to go, have faith in God. But when you're in the hospital, I can tell you, you'll be clenching your fists and crying out, Lord, Lord, I know what I intellectually— what I believe, but everything in me is just tearing me apart. That's where faith holds on. I don't understand why this is going on. I've prayed, Lord, but you haven't answered that prayer. God is good. God is good. God is good. If our faith is transactional, when you have that crisis come, your house will crumble. And I have seen Christians spend their entire lives in a pagan Christian view and had no idea. And it wasn't until the wind blew and knocked that house down that I sat with them and said, your Christianity is built on sand. You should follow God because he's good, not to get his stuff. When we pray, what do we pray? Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. 'Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.' You sure it's not our will? Now when we pray that, that's actually a hard prayer to truly— we can say it, but it's hard to sit on that seat and to trust that the things that He wants is not what we want. That's faith. And whether it's God's calling you to stay or go or spend the money or save the money or do the thing, Whatever it is, do it. Because most of the time, all your senses will tell you the opposite. You see, faith— the difference between faith and fear, remember this definition: fear says, I don't know what's going to happen, but it's going to be bad. Okay, what does fear say? I don't know what's going to happen, but it's going to be bad. Faith says, I don't know what's going to happen, but I trust God. That's the difference. You don't know, but one holds to God, and all you have is His words. That's it. Faith is simply trusting in His promises and holding Him to His word. So when you read in the Psalms, "The Lord is my shield and my buckler and my strength, my high tower, in whom I will trust." Or in Isaiah 26:3, "The Lord will keep you in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Yea, because He is my rock and my fortress, in whom I will trust." Or in John 16:33 or John 14:27, where Jesus says, 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I giveth unto you. Not as the world do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid, for I am with you.' This is just words, but do you believe them? Do you sit, trust, hold? Right now, if a storm was coming— and I think the way this afternoon's going, we might actually get one— If a storm was coming, let's say with the sirens were going off, I don't even know if we've got sirens, but let's say the sirens were going off, tornado's coming everyone, you've got 10 seconds to grab something to hold on to. What are you going to grab on to? Now let's say you're looking at Pastor Dan and I go, I've got an idea, I'm holding on to this podium. How many of you think this will hold me through the tornado that's coming? You see, you can place trust in things, Just make sure it's the right thing. We have trust in everything. The moment you hop in your car, you have faith your car's not going to fall apart. You have faith that the food that you eat, no one's poisoned it. You have faith in a lot of things every day. Is our faith in the right place? Is it in our bank account or is in the Lord? The reason why we give tithes and offerings, by the way, is we don't give anything we return it. God— what God does is just when you think you're getting comfortable and building a confidence in your bank account, He'll take that. How about I'll take that back from you just so you learn to trust Me. The children of Israel, God could have taken them a way quicker, easier route, but He said, we're going through the desert where there's no food or water. Why is He— what's He going to teach them? To trust Me. If you're going to be My nation, you will learn 'You cannot face what's coming unless you surrender and trust in me.' And there are times in our life where God will take you into the wilderness, but it's the best thing for us. You see, when those trials come, welcome them and grow from them. James says— I think I remember it by my heart— 'My brethren'— James chapter 1— 'My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience.' Or in Peter, he says, do not think it's a strange thing when the fiery trials come upon you, as though some strange thing has happened unto you, but rejoice as you are partakers of Christ's suffering. Or in Romans chapter 5, Paul says, we glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation works patience, patience experience, and experience hope. For the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Every Bible writer looks at trials as a way to add more weight to the bench press to get stronger. Your faith will grow like a muscle with every trial you go through. As you trust in the Lord, He always comes through, and you trust and you trust and you grow and you grow. Even when things are tough, He will take a broken pottery and make it more beautiful. So faith is not transactional. It's trusting God in both the good and the bad. And as Job says, 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.' So in summary, friends, is our faith based on a demonic faith with simply belief and no action? Or is our faith based on a pagan faith that is transactional? I go to church, I do all the right religious things, therefore God has to make sure nothing bad ever happens. That's pagan. Or is it based on the Christian faith? Which says whatever happens, God is good, and I hold to him because I know who he is. And where everything else around me makes me question that, I will not question that God is good. He's never abandoned me, he will never abandon me, and I will hold on no matter what was. And whether I live or I die or I get rich or I get poor, whatever brings glory to you, Lord, I surrender all. Amen. Because friends, I don't think the world's getting easier. I think it's getting harder. We're going to need faith. Amen. But let's make sure our faith is based upon the rock and not upon the sand. As we come up to sing our last song, let's reflect on that faith. And I ask you this question: What are the things in your life that you're holding on to and haven't handed to the Lord? SPEAKER A 00:45:21 - 00:45:33 This message was made available by the Glenvale Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit their YouTube page, Glenvale SDA Church. SPEAKER B 00:45:45 - 00:45:59 This program has been brought to you by 3ABN Australia Radio. Missed part of an Australian program? Listen anytime on demand at 3abnaustralia.org.au and click on the listen button.