The Basics of Faith

We relate to God and to Jesus Christ through faith. However, this one area of life is one that many people misunderstand or have difficulty with. You don’t have to live with doubt.

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There are two things that are absolutely essential to a right relationship with god.
They are, 1st of all, belief that god is, Secondly, belief that god will always do what god says he will do.
Apart from these 2 basic convictions, There is no salvation, and there is no blessing.
In fact, the right of Hebrews said it this way, if we’re to please god We must believe that he is and that he is a reward of those who diligently seek him or that he will do exactly what he promised.
The basic foundation truth of the whole Christian life is faith. That’s how we relate to god.
That’s how we relate to his son, Jesus Christ.
And yet, That is the one area of her life that probably most people either misunderstand or have the most difficulty with.
Cannot trust god. Why don’t I trust god? Oftentimes life filled full of doubt.
Well, this is the beginning of a series entitled learning to walk by faith.
And I want you to turn, if you will, to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5.
And the title of this message is learning to walk by faith the basics.
Now what do I mean by the basics? I mean the starting point.
This is where we begin in learning to walk by faith.
And what I want you to note in this passage is this that the apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians is talking to them about life and death.
And the condition of our body and what is gonna happen to us after we die.
And the process of discussing that He makes one statement here that I want us to note, but I want us to look at this whole passage for a moment.
He says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 1, but we know that if the earthly tent speaking of our physical body, which is our house, is torn down, we have a building from god that is another body.
A house not made with hands, eternalen the heavens.
For indeed, in this house that is in this body, we groan longing to be clothed without dwelling from heaven.
In as much as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked.
For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan being burdened because we do not want to be unclosed, but to be clothed in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
Now he who prepared us for this purpose is god, who gave to us the spirit as a pledge.
Therefore, being always of good courage and knowing that while we are home in the body, we are absent from the lord, for we walk by faith, and not by sight.
We’re of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the lord.
The apostle Paul is saying, you know, that will come a time we lay these bodies down.
We’ll have a new body, a resurrected body, which our lord promised, in which he certainly demonstrated in his own resurrection.
Paul says, we have the privilege of living by faith. We walk by faith.
Therefore, we’re not worried about death. We’re not afraid of death.
We’re not concerned about what’s gonna happen to these bodies.
We have the awesome promise of a resurrected body and a heavenly home.
And he says, therefore, we’re not walking by sight. We’re not walking by feeling.
We’re not walking by the people’s opinions. We’re not walking according to reason we are walking simply by faith.
It is the will and purpose and plan of god that all of us learn to walk by faith.
And I hope you’ll jot down a few things.
And when I give you a couple of definitions, as so here, I wanna make it as simple and plain as possible, but it’s very important that we understand what the Bible says about faith, not what the world says about it.
Now when you think in terms of the word faith, and the the word believe, probably in our culture today because people say, I believe this, and I’m a believer.
And, yes, I I believe in all the things they say, probably the better word, is the word trust.
That is I’m placing my trust in. I am committing myself to.
The word believe or trust is a is an action word.
And if you took these three words, uh, in the in the Greek language, love and serve and, uh, uh, if you put the word, um, believe, All three of these have the same ending on the word.
And a Greek ending on a word is very significant. They’re all words of action.
I love if I love someone, I’m going to respond. If I serve someone, I’m going to act.
Uh, if I believe I’m going to act, for example, you can read the 40 verses of the 11th chapter Hebrews And nineteen times, the Bible speaks of someone believing whether it’s Abraham or or Jacob or or Moses or Noah, they all believed And when they believe the Bible says they did something.
So in the new testament, you can go all the way through the new testament.
Every time someone is believing of placing their trust in, there is an action.
There is an interaction that moves the will.
And so when we think in terms of believing It isn’t some stagnant kind of belief that says, yes, I believe, never moves, never budgets, no action.
The very word is a word of action.
Some thing is going to happen in your life and my life when we place our trust in when we commit ourselves to almighty god.
Now you hear people say, well, I believe.
And, of course, they’re thinking in terms of, yes, I believe that I’ll get up tomorrow morning.
I believe that, The church doors will be open when I get this. All kinds of that kind.
We’re talking about biblical faith. We’re talking about faith.
We’re talking about a commitment we’re talking about a trust level that has to do with eternal things.
And so when we come to define, well, what is faith?
Well, you could just say something like this.
That faith is a confident conviction that our god is who he says he is and that our god will do exactly what he says he will do.
Now it is the will and purpose and plan of god that we live by faith.
Well, the apostle Paul said we walk by faith. What did he mean by that?
When the apostle Paul used the term walk, he usually referred to that conduct lifestyle manner of life.
This is how we live our lives.
And so you recall that on other occasions, he said, for example, we’d to walk not in the flesh, but in the spirit, we’d to walk in love or walk by love.
Uh, and we are to walk in the spirit.
Many things, he said, and what he was saying is this should be a lifestyle.
If somebody were to say to you or ask you the question, do you live by faith?
I wonder how many of you would say, yes.
Probably most of us would say, well, yes, I do.
And what you mean is, well, I do most of the time, or I do sometime.
Oh, there are things that I have a difficult time trusting god for. You know what?
That doesn’t mean that you don’t live by faith, because I’m gonna come to that in a few moments.
What I want us to notice here is what the apostle Paul is saying.
When he says, we’re walking by faith. Not by sight, not by feeling.
Now most people walk not by faith, but by sight and by feeling.
And by reason now, reason this thing out, and this is what I’m going to do.
Oftentimes, god gets left out even sometimes when he is included, he is included in this manner.
Here’s what I think I ought to do, and, god, I’m trusting you to help me. Instead of saying, what?
What would you have me to do? What is your will? What is your purpose? What is your plan?
It is the will and purpose and plan of god that you and I walked by faith now.
What do we mean by that? Simply this.
When you and I wake up in the morning, what is the first thing we should say now?
I would not can’t dictate to somebody else what they think, but I can tell you what I on, I think.
That is when I wake up in the morning, the first thing I wanna think about is father, because you know what?
All day long, I’m gonna live, making decisions, meeting people, doing the work that the lord has called me to do.
And so I know when my opened my eyes or I become conscious even sometime before I open my eyes, I know that today, I need my father to walk with me.
I know that today, I will have to depend upon him and trust him for every single thing.
And so, therefore, I wanna begin the day where it should begin.
In my relationship with him, affirming my relationship, affirming my unity, my oneness, and my love, and devotion to him.
We should listen, because we gotta walk by faith. Now what does that involve? Well, here’s what it involves.
It means, for example, that I’m going to be asking for his guidance today, here’s what he said.
Trust in the lord with all your heart.
Lean not to your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.
I wanna thank you that I have that wonderful privilege and and the wonderful promise that you’ve given me, lord, it means if I’m going to walk by faith today, that I am going to be seeking his mind and his heart, seeking direction for every single facet of my life.
Not some things, but everything. You see, to walk by faith isn’t something we do sometime and not sometime.
Walk to walk by faith means I am going to rely upon. I’m gonna trust then.
I’m going to depend upon my heavenly father to give me direction for the day.
I’m going to depend upon him to meet every single need that I have.
Now all of us would come up with needs that we have, we think.
Well, now there’s some needs we need to meet ourselves. Who says so?
My god shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
And so, therefore, I’m gonna trust him to meet every single need today because you see, If I’m gonna walk by faith, I’m gonna depend upon him for everything.
I’m looking to him. He’s my father. Some expecting him to meet my need.
I’m gonna thank him, and I’m gonna trust him to forgive me of my sin.
When I falter and fall and stumble today, I’m gonna trust him I’m gonna believe that he’ll pick me up having forgiven me of my sin and move me on in life.
I’m going to trust him for every relationship that I have.
I’m gonna trust him for the things that I need to say and need to remember.
I’m gonna trust him for those difficult things that I when I face, I won’t know what to do immediately.
I’m gonna trust him for the how to respond to criticism and how to respond to praise.
I’m gonna trust him for the needs of others that I suddenly feel that I’m to be a part of.
I’m gonna trust him that if I need to share a testimony of what Christ has done for me, I will do it in the spirit in the way that he will guide me and show me that’ll make an impact.
I’m gonna trust him, not to try to not to try to impress anybody, but to make an impact in someone’s life today, no matter who it is, so that they too will want to know the same Christ that I know.
I’m gonna trust him today, in such a fashion that I won’t even have to worry about the future and my eternal security.
I just trust them when I wake up in the morning.
I wake up in the arms of a loving father. Wake up absolutely secured in the person of Jesus Christ.
Wake up every morning knowing that at the cross, my eternal salvation was settled once and for all.
So you see, to walk by faith means that Jesus Christ is going to dominate my thinking.
Jesus Christ is gonna dominate and control the decisions. Jesus Christ’s gonna be the center of everything.
You see, for most people, they think their life is the center of the world.
And all of life revolves around them. But here’s the way it is. Let’s say, for example, this represents Jesus.
Here’s the way we live our life.
No matter what’s going on during the day, All of life revolves around the son of god because he’s at the core of our life.
When you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, The Bible says that Jesus came to live in your life, uh, in the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, and, therefore, he’s there.
Now why did god send the Holy Spirit into our life? To do what?
To enable you and me listen, to enable you and me to walk by faith every single day.
Listen, he wants to be in on every decision. He wants to be in on on every relationship.
And when the troubles and the trials and the persecutions and the difficulties and the hardship and the heartaches come?
You know what? He is there. Listen.
A listen. A a confident conviction that our father that our god is, listen, involving himself in every circumstance and in every single need of our life.
You see, to walk by faith, is to walk in submission to, and and to walk, listen, to walk in a way that he is in absolute control.
Now when we talk about being submissive or yielding ourselves to him, I think most people, the way they think is I’m gonna give this to him and this to him and this to him.
I’ll take care of this and this and this over here. No.
If I am really committed to him, If I’m really surrendered to him, he has access to everything in my life.
He has access to every single thing, therefore, not holding anything back. Let me ask you a question.
When you face some situation, circumstance in life, what is your first response if it’s a difficult one?
Is it father? I need you. I’m trusting you. Here’s what happens.
He wants us to so live that nobody has to remind us to pray.
No one has to remind us to seek him, No one has to tell us what have you per ask us, have you prayed?
It is, listen, the natural, normal response.
Listen, is that quick The natural normal response when we face anything is to say, father, what would you have me to do?
Thank you god. You’re sovereign, and you’re in control. So how am I gonna learn to walk by faith?
Here’s how I’m gonna learn. I’m going to make a request.
I’m gonna put god to the test, not trying to tempt him, but I make I make a request.
And you know what? God answers my prayer or sees me through this. And you know what happens?
When that happens, One layer comes down on my foundation of faith.
My my foundation is built on Christ. It’s a solid foundation.
But now but I I’ve got to build on that.
I’ve got to build on the foundation of the eternal son of god. How am I gonna build on it?
I’m gonna trust him. And watch how he works and see him come through, and I’m thinking for it.
But I’m gonna observe what happened.
Second thing I’m gonna do is I’m gonna get his word, and I’m gonna find out what the Bible says about it.
Now listen carefully. If you don’t know who the god is that you trust, how are you gonna trust him?
But when you and I get in the word of god, and here’s what it says, The Bible says that god loves me.
And the Bible says he will meet my needs.
The Bible says that god is holy, and he’ll forgive me.
In other words, when I began to look at the scriptures, here’s what happens.
My under standing of the nature of god. You know what that’s doing?
That’s that’s like that’s like pouring into my into my whole foundation.
Pouring into my whole foundation, the oil that makes everything work. Here’s here’s who god is.
Here’s what he’s like. And if he this is what god is who god is, and this is what he’s like, then I I can trust him.
You see, if you come to church, bring you a Bible, Read it with us, take it home, lay it down.
You may learn some things, but god, listen, god wants you in his word.
He he listen, he wants you he wants you to absolve the truth.
He wants you looking at the words, remembering what he says, looking at his promise.
As you see, the more I understand the promises of god, the nature of god, and how he works, the strong of my faith is going to be.
So therefore, if I’m going to learn to walk by faith, I’ll make those requests. I’ll see what happens.
It and for example, if he doesn’t answer my prayer and the lord shows me, that wasn’t my will.
Thank you, father. You you had something better in mind. You know what?
Even when he doesn’t answer it, and I understand that god had something better in mind, you know what that does, strengthens my faith.
What does it say to me? That god loves me so much that he won’t listen.
He won’t even give me what he knows isn’t good for me. Thank god.
I may not like it at a moment, and I may chafe over it, and I may fret to even get angry and say, god, what what’s the deal?
And god says, the deal is, this is the best deal.
This is the best that can happen to you, and this is the way it is.
Even when I don’t get what I want, and god shows me why.
What does it do with strength in my faith? Loves me too much to give me something shouldn’t have.
Well, how do we how do we learn to do it?
We falter, we fall, we make mistakes, but here’s what we do.
You see if you can learn to walk by faith, remember this. Some things you have to remember.
First of all, when you falter and you think, god, I blew it bad.
What you do is you don’t have yourself a penny party and just wallow it and think, well, god, I’ve blown it bad.
How could you ever trust me and trust you to begin with? How could you ever trust me uh, anymore.
And and so what I have to remember this, discouragement will destroy your faith. You’re not careful.
Just because we all faltered and fell, and we became frightened at this point, or we we said, oh god, what’s gonna happen here?
You know what? That doesn’t upset god. Listen.
You can’t disappoint someone if they don’t have any expectations of you, and he doesn’t have any expectations of.
He’s eating dust, frail, He understands us. And so, therefore, I don’t have to give up.
And you see, one of the keys is not how many times do I fault and fall, in the process of learning to walk by faith.
The key is, listen, not how much I how often I fall, but what do I do when I fall?
I get up I thank god for his forgiveness and his cleansing.
Thank god for showing me my doubts and my fears and my anxieties and fretting, Thank god that he loves me enough to keep on.
So what do we we get up and we keep moving? You don’t give up.
And what happens little by little?
Day after day as we trust him, week after week as we trust him, month after month as we trust him, year after year, as we trust him, what’s happening?
We are building strength into our faith.
Our faith is becoming stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger. Listen.
If the things Listen, if the things that bothered you, when you were first saved, still bothers you and you’re threatening and demon over him, you need to ask yourself the question.
God, am I still? Listen, am I still in the playpen when it comes to faith?
Where am I god in my faith?
Now the way god builds faith as we said before, and I repeat this, trouble, trial, difficult, and hardship.
Think listen. If I really wanna understand what god is like, And I wanted to strengthen my faith.
I’ve got to be willing to get thrown into fire.
I’ve got to be willing to face difficult in hardship.
Listen, you don’t build godly you don’t build faith that sustains you in life by simply reading it in the book.
Listen. What makes it work is experience. It is experience that makes it work.
But what, listen, what gives impact to your testimony? Experience?
It is the fact that you’ve been there. You’ve walked through deep waters. You’ve walked through fire.
You’ve walked through trials. You’ve walked through hardship.
You’ve you’ve been in you’ve walked through those times of great need when they’re seemingly there was no way in the world for for those needs to be met and god met them.
How do we learn?
We learn by living, trusting, failing, keeping out, you know, getting our focus back on him and moving on in life.
So let me ask you this.
Are you willing to surrender your life to that god.
Body, soul, spirit, finances, relationships, marriage, family, kill everything. Can they handle it?
Will you let him handle it? Say, well, I’m not even a Christian. What about me?
Well, simply this. Here’s where you have to start. You have to ask yourself the question.
Do you believe the do you do you believe the testimony of god’s word that accept your born again except you trust Jesus as you say, you’d be lost, eternal.
Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus Christ went to the cross and died on the cross and paid you a sin debt in full?
Do you believe that? You have to begin right there.
If you’re willing to accept that truth and willing to say to him, lord Jesus, I confess my sins to you I do believe what you say in the scripture.
I do believe that your death at Calvary atoned for my sins I’m I’m trusting you as my savior.
I’m trusting you that what you did will tone for my sin.
I’m trusting you to forgive me of my sins. I’m trusting you to be my savior, my lord.
The moment you do that, that moment you become a living child of god, then you begin the journey with us.
We’re all learning how to walk by feet.