<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">BY-NC-ND 2.0</a>, a.k.a. Music Sharing, license.</p>

Freedom From Fear

Freedom From Fear 2006

Randy Skeete

What All Women Should Know About God

Who Has Your Back?

Why is God Unemployed?

Poor Satan

How to Succeed Without Being a Genius

What does God Want for You?

Just Like Jesus

Fred Bischoff

Beloved, Let us Love

How to Resist Temptation

God, it Makes No Sense

An Essential Ingredient

Good Gifts Come From Above

How to Fire Proof Your Soul

Who is the Holy Spirit?

Some of this and Some of That

Hedrick Edwards

Reconciliation with God

Three Things to Know About God

A King in the Gutter is Still a King

Who is the Devil?

How to get Your Prayers Answered

The Fall of the Twin Towers

Jesus was no Angel

Crossing the Waters

Adding and Subtracting

The Truth Shall Make You Free

God is Able

The Summation

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our Bible study hour.

I've been asked to study the Word of God with you on the subject of faith.

Actually we've had some, not confusion, but ambiguity as to what we should talk about.

Should we talk about reconciliation with God, which is a subject very close to me, not just reconciliation with God, but reconciliation among human beings.

1 of the most crucial messages of Scripture for our time is the message of brotherhood and solidarity with all human beings of every nation, kindred, town, and people.

However, a foundation for such a discourse, it might come sometime in the future, is faith.

So we've decided that we are going to study with you this morning the subject of faith, and I've entitled the lesson, The Good Fight of Faith in a Crisis of Trust.

The Good Fight of Faith in a Crisis of Trust.

Let's just pause and invite God's presence to be with us as we open the Bible.

Gracious God, author of truth, inspirer of scripture, God whom we have not seen but who we know is with us in Jesus Christ.

We invite you to be with us in a very special way as we open your word, That that same spirit who is the author of this truth, this book, will guide us into all truth today, give us receptive minds and hearts.

I should say at the outset that the word faith, which has been tossed around and played with for generations, this word faith has 2 English siblings.

And these siblings are known as trust and belief.

These words are often used interchangeably in the Bible with faith, depending on the context in which it occurs.

They are translated from the same root in the original language.

We will not elaborate on the fine distinctions that may exist between them.

Suffice it to say that we cannot talk about biblical faith without using or at least bearing in mind these 2 siblings, belief and trust.

And unfortunately, we do not have a lot of time for interaction.

I am a teacher and I like to interact with students.

But the demands of time may not allow us to have a great deal of interaction.

The lights are blazing at me, but I am sure you are there.

So every once in a while, don't hesitate to let me know that you are there and in tune.

So I ask the question, if you believe doctors are frauds, would you go to them?

Would you follow their instructions and take the medicine they prescribe if you have no basis whatever for trusting them?

Using the same line of reasoning, do you think it would do any ultimate good for you, for God, or for the universe If God would go ahead and save everyone, including rebels who do not trust him, would that be a good thing for God, for you, or for the whole universe?

How long would there be peace in the valley if you were to do that?

It is obviously very important to be able to Trust other human beings if we are to enjoy living together with them in the same neighborhood or the same community.

We may live in neighborhoods but we don't enjoy it, we hate it, we don't communicate and that's not a good way to live.

But if we want to enjoy living in the same neighborhood with other human beings, in the same community, there must be mutual trust and faith.

How important it must be, then, to discover who God is and decide whether we can put our faith in him.

This subject then is of utmost importance because to be truly and fully human we must be connected with the divine.

To be truly and fully human we must be connected with the divine, disconnected from our source.

Humanity begins to degenerate and crumble and much of what we see in the world is a distorted humanity.

And faith is the only means by which we can be so connected with God, with the divine.

Faith is the only mechanism there is by which we can be connected with God.

In a free universe, faith is the hand that turns the key in God's house, to the door into God's house.

In a few universes, the Creator desires only those who choose to have faith in him and trust 1 another to constitute his kingdom.

And Faith is the only condition for entrance into and enjoyment of God's special family.

Notice how the following scripture states how crucial and decisive faith is.

If you have your Bible, you might want to refer to Hebrews 11 6.

I think most of us might know that scripture.

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, to please God.

So if you want a relationship with God, if you want to be connected with God, it is imperative that we discover what faith is and that we know it, experience it, and are capable of exercising faith.

Hebrews 10.38 also tells us that the just shall live by faith.

If we are talking about righteousness, just being righteous in the presence of God, the only means by which we can be made righteous is by faith, not by anything, not by pedigree, not by our genetic constitution, not by our wealth, not by our privilege, not by our religion.

Martin Luther discovered that after years of personal spiritual struggle.

And the text goes on to say, and if anyone shrinks back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

That is to say, it is possible to shrink back from faith, from exercising faith.

The just shall live by faith, but if anyone shrinks back, God says my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

So already we can begin to see that while faith is so essential, 1 has a choice.

1 can choose to shrink away from faith and there are many people when confronted with the choice, shrink back.

But faith is the only means to get connected with God, to obtain righteousness, to be justified.

And in the absence of faith, we use all kinds of humanistic mechanisms to find justification, And we have all kinds of substitute gods that we adore.

Last week, my wife invited me to go up to Lake Arrowhead, where her colleagues at Loma Linda University were having a conference.

I'd been there some years before, but I drove the road, I discovered it was very winding, very steep, and very busy.

And I wish there was another way, a highway, to go to Arrowhead.

But alas, That was the only way, at least the only 1 that I knew.

And so I had to go through that steep, winding, treacherous road.

We got there safely, no accidents, I am happy to say.

But the next morning, I was coming down alone, she had to stay, and it was foggy.

So it was not only steep, winding, treacherous, but it was foggy, dense fog.

And sooner as I got out on the highway there was an accident because of the fog I believe.

But I missed the way because of the fog for a while.

I eventually came to San Bernardino, to Loma Linda, back.

I wish there were another way, But I had to struggle through that 1 winding road in order to get home.

There is no other choice but to choose faith if you want to be connected with God.

And yet, important, fundamental as faith is, it is not something that is easy in a sense.

Scripture refers to it as involving a fight.

I want you to know that scripture refers to faith as involving a fight.

1st Timothy 6 12, fight the good fight of faith.

You think it will come natural and that it will be easy.

In a sense it should be natural, but it's a fight.

But I'm glad that he uses the qualifying word good.

There are some fights that are very, very bad, but it's a good fight of fate.

It is a fight because there are powerful forces on this planet that are determined to obliterate this quality of fate from the earth.

It is a fight, not because faith itself is inherently so problematic.

It is a fight because there are powerful forces, Brilliant forces in this planet that are determined to obliterate this quality of faith from the earth.

Series

Freedom From Fear 2006

Reconciliation with God

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Lost

The Prodigal Son

29m

2019: Evening and Sabbath Meetings

The Privilege of Prayer

1h 8m

Breakout Session #1

A Safe Place

49m

Man to Man

A Father’s Heart

49m

One with Him

51m

Lost

03 The Lost Son

1h 3m

Holding On To Hope

50m

Healing Broken Relationships

5. A Safe Place

1h

InVerse 3rd Quarter 2024: Stories that Transform

02 Lost but Found

29m

Reflections on Luke 15

30m

What Jesus Said

2. The Unconditional Love of God

54m

Just a Drink of Water

43m

Sound Doctrine