John Gunter: For singing out this morning. We had a blessing while we were about to take communion. Logan handed me one of the prayer cards, and you know how kids are, sometimes you never know what you're gonna see on those things. But he had actually written out a prayer this morning, praying for dad and his preaching and praying for mister Robert. And I thought that was that was pretty special.
I'm gonna make sure and let mister Robert know that as well. But man, they're listening. They're listening and they're watching, and so thank you for being a blessing in our kids' lives and to to all the kids here. So we're reminded of them every time the money clanks in the bucket each each week. So keep encouraging them, and I think I've said it before, but, you know, you can bring pockets of change too and start handing those kids.
Hey. One of my buddy's churches, that's what they do, is they they tell the adults or they tell the kids, hey, the adults have money, go get it. And so they go and they're getting pockets of money and everything, so maybe we ought to be more aggressive. That's what I'm trying to say. End of the story.
Well, this morning, we're we're beginning a series, Marks of a True Disciple Living the Character of Christ. And so, we're gonna be talk talking today about being faith filled is one of those characteristics of being a true disciple. I don't know what you think about when you think about stories of faith. They they encourage me because my own stories where I have, you know, lived this out have been very scary. Have you been there before?
You're thinking about taking that job, and you don't know if it's the right one. You may be thinking about moving to another place, I'm not sure if that's the right move. And Katie and I, when you may not know the story, some of you haven't known us very long. When Katie married me, she married an IT guy. K?
Some of you, by my personality, yeah, he's a nerd. I get it. Okay. Well, she married an IT guy. I had a degree in information systems, and so ministry was not a part of that conversation.
Now, we were both very involved in church, always have been, but as far as full time ministry, that was not something that that we really talked about. And so, actually, when Katie was she's a few years younger than me, I won't say ages, but she's a few years younger than me, and so when she graduated college after me, her first day driving to her new job, she wrecked her Mustang, totaled it, pinballed between guardrails over the Red River Bridge in Texarkana, Texas. And so, we thought she was going to drive every day down there, and it was about an hour drive, and after the first day, we were already like, okay, we're moving. Because I could move my office, I worked as a regional technician, so all I had to do was have an office. We worked in different banks, and so we had a bank down where she was working, so okay, we're gonna move there.
But I thought, okay, well, that's the only option to have. What what we experienced after that through that terrible time of what what do we do, you know, I'm glad my wife is okay. What we ended up doing was moving to a place where we experienced some of the most substantial spiritual growth that I have ever experienced. And so we got plugged into a large congregation with a a good group of young families who loved each other and were very serious about living this kind of thing this this kind of stuff out. And so we grew, and I I got opportunities to start teaching and and preaching.
Well, you know where that led. Right? Well, this wasn't an easy road because one day we had to decide, alright, if I'm that serious about it and I wanna go to school, I have to leave these people where I have experienced this profound love and joy and just growth. You know, we pray closer to God and closer to each other. And we had experienced that, and for me to continue that, man, I had to leave those people, and that was not easy.
And so I don't I don't tell that story to to say some great, you know, move of faith on my part. It had to be, but I want you to know it was also filled with fear because we didn't know whether this was the right thing, and it was hard to do. But through that, we've experienced so many great things of of meeting people that I would have never known, best friends that I would have never known had I not stepped out in faith. I wouldn't be here. Some of you say, well, don't know why you took this step of faith, John.
I wish you weren't here. No? We wouldn't be here. We wouldn't know you guys. You wouldn't know me if we hadn't just given it to God in our fear.
You understand? And so being faith filled does not mean, you know, we never have fear or something like that. What it does mean is that we're going to trust God even when, man, it's hard. I don't know what I'm going to do or how I'm going to get through it or anything like that. And so, let's faith this way.
Faith is trusting in God's character and promises even when unseen, and I might add to that, even when it looks very, very difficult. I'm gonna trust in God's character and promises that God is going to be there for me. Now, what we could say in my story that I just shared is I could put my faith and trust in that support group that I had. Right? In my church, and I thought, well, this is this is where it is.
This is where I found my growth. This is where it's people that love me, and I could put all my faith and trust in that. Well, guess what? No matter how good that is, that is not on the level of God, is it? So I need to put my faith and make sure my faith is in God's character and promises even when it's unseen.
I also want to make sure you you see verses like this because we get this in the Psalms. Now, is a Psalm of David. Alright? I I just wanna read it. I just want you to remember as I'm reading it, this is David.
Okay? And what do you whatever you think about David, this is him. How long, oh Lord, will you forget me forever? Sound like David to you? How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? When you think about the life of David, do you think about someone who was just beaten down and God never never talked to him or was never around him? But guess what? We can feel exactly like David, can't we?
We live a life, and if somebody from the outside pointed things out, we might see it, but as we're experiencing life, sometimes it looks like, oh, well, God, you're hiding your face from me. I don't know where God is. But we would say, David, have you seen where God has been with you every step of the way? And so so even David has these these fears and these these these moments of, God, where are you? But but notice where we go here.
He says, consider and answer me, oh, Lord my God. Light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemies say, I have prevailed over him. So he's got people attacking him, and it feels like they're gonna win. Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken, but here's the turning point in this psalm. But I have trusted.
I have trusted. That's what faith is, is putting my trust in God. I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me.
And some of you need to remember this, you need to highlight it in your Bible. But did you notice, we went from despair to rejoicing. And sometimes, all that that takes to go from one to the other is a reminder of how God has brought you to where you are right now. Because you've been there. Right?
You've been at the the end of the tunnel, and you don't know what's going on. And I I quoted a Metallica song one time, and everybody laughed. Metallica sings a song and it says, you know, you're you're at the end of the tunnel, and you you see a a light at the end of a tunnel, and then you find out it's a freight train coming your way. Sometimes, life feels like that. Right?
David feels that despair. How long are you gonna hide your face from me? But, I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. In a moment, he had to look around and say, you know what? God has been there for me, and I'm gonna trust in him even though I don't know the way out of this.
Even though it looks like there's no way out of it, I can see that God has been there for me. And I would imagine if we shared stories this morning, we we would just fill up all of our time with stories of God leading you through things where you didn't know where to go or how it would ever turn out good. Amen? So what is faith? Hebrews eleven one.
Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Now, I don't want us to ever take faith as something that's just, you should believe it because I said it. You ever said that to your kids, you know, something like, I'll just take my word for it? And none of us like to do that, do we? We like evidence, which is what David just just realized.
Right? I feel like God is far from me. Oh, yeah. Wait. Now that I'm thinking about it, yeah, God, you've been there for me.
You have dealt bountifully with me. And so when we read this, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Now, when we think about God, you have not seen God, but you have seen his work, have you not? As you walk outside today after leaving this place, and you're gonna see God painted all over here. Now, maybe not in Mont Belvieu, there's not much nature left, just houses.
Those people are are blessings from God too. But God has created this place. He's created us. We just talked about Robert and prayed for him. We live in a time where science we're able to go into someone's artery and put a stent in so they can continue living.
Isn't that amazing? With all the inventions we have, I still can't wrap my mind around that one, and I've I've been through it. You may feel a little pain, I didn't feel anything. I was talking to the the doctor over there. It's just amazing that we can live through these things.
God has shown you that he has blessed you, that he has created, that he has done all these, that he is present. This is not something you just believe for the sake of believing. God has shown you over and over. Now, Romans one seventeen says this, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.
And so, if we are the righteous, we are taught to live by faith. Now, do you live by faith or do you live by trusting in something else? Now, faith is active trust, not passive belief. Alright. What is passive belief?
I believe that God exists. I believe that Jesus died for me. Well, that's good. That's part of faith. But faith, true faith in scripture is this active trust that I'm not just gonna say I believe, I'm gonna live my life in such a way that shows I have that belief.
You remember when James said it. Alright. Well, faith without works is what church? Well, y'all don't even know. Okay.
Thank you, Valentin. Valentin knows faith without works is what church? Okay. So faith is an active thing that that makes you go into something else. Okay?
It makes you live a certain way. And so faith is active trust, not passive belief. Alright? Why is faith foundational? Faith is foundational, one, because it pleases God.
Hebrews eleven six says, and without faith is it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. And so it's foundational because, well, it pleases God. Notice this in Galatians one ten, because we should live lives of faith that we are seeking to please God, but often what we do is we say we are people of faith, but we were trying to please other people. Alright. Galatians one ten, for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God?
Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. I don't know if that can be stated any more plainly. But often what we do is we say we're people of faith, but we're out here just trying to appease people. Well, if they're mad, I'm gonna be mad.
Right? Or whichever way they go, I'm going. That type of things because I want everything to be okay with us instead of, I need to be pleasing God, having the faith in him that that brings about this relationship. Number two, why is faith foundational? Number two, it is how we're saved.
Ephesians two eight. Now, when I was growing up, we we constantly battled this thing. Can you be saved with faith alone? Here's something for you this morning. Yes.
Because faith alone I'm talking about a full faith. A full faith is in what scripture talks about. Okay? So the scripture is, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. Okay.
Well, faith that is full, that is we use the word active, means you are moving because of that faith. Right? And so, you may be thinking here this morning, as you at Church of Christ folks, what about baptism? Well, faith means I want to follow what Jesus is said to do, what what God's word is said to do. So I have faith in him, so I'm being moved towards baptism, which is trusting in God, pledging my allegiance to not you guys or anything else, pledging my allegiance to him.
And so a full faith is yes. That will save you. You are saved through faith if your faith is that active faith understood through scripture. It is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God. That's where that grace component comes in.
True faith does save us. And number three, it is how we walk daily. It is how we walk daily. And that's second Corinthians five seven, for we walk by faith, not by sight. How much time do we spend trying to figure out all the information, try to make the best decision?
Anybody ever have paralysis by analysis? That is John Gunther right here. Even in trying to figure out sermon series. Oh, we could do this, and maybe we need this. Okay.
Well, I spent so much time on that that, you know, I'm not actually preparing a lesson, I'm just worried about what series or something like that. Well, that's true in every part of our life, every aspect, is that we can look and we want the information. I want you to get information. Right? I want you to be informed about your decisions, but ultimately, at the end of the day, no matter what you choose, we are walking by faith, if we are people of faith.
Right? That no matter how God answers that, whether you should take that job or move to that place or even marry that woman. Right? We are putting that in the hands of God. God, if it be your will we talked about that earlier.
Boy, we don't like to pray that way, do we? If it be your will. And what what that is saying is, and I and I will admit, I'm still gonna tell God all the things and how I want them and how I think it ought to work out. But I want to be a person that after I do that, I still pray if it be your will. Because I I want to be that person of faith who says, I think I've got all the information, I think I can make a good decision, but God, you know way more than I do.
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves. Right? We feel like we're in control, wanna be in control, and we need to remind ourselves, God, you know far more than I do, and I'm gonna put my my faith in you. Alright. Well, I wanna talk about this.
I've I've read a couple of verses from this. Hebrews 11 is known as the faith chapter, and so I'd be remiss if I didn't read from it. We're gonna read a few verses here from Hebrews chapter 11. This is is known as the faith chapter or hall of faith, some people say. It says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, And so you get from that, you get an explanation of here here, notice these stories from scripture.
For by it, the people of old received their commendation. By faith, we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Well, I love science, I love people just teaching on all of this stuff and how we think the universe was made, and guess what? This still holds up. We don't we don't have anything else.
Right? Our our our best guesses are still I don't know where this came from. I heard a guy a scientist say recently, the universe may be eternal. Yeah. I think so.
Because God made it. Because we can't physically do anything other than observe, you understand, and try to make calculations. Well, we have to believe in faith, and we do as as Christians. Right? Even scientists as well.
I'm not putting faith versus science because they they believe we have a lot of scientific believers as well. But okay. So that what is seen was not made out of things that were visible. By faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous. God commending him by accepting his gifts.
And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. And so faith leaves this kind of, okay, you you have this memory left of you. Do you know people that have passed on that you think of them as a faithful person? Some of those people are why you're here today. Right?
They alright. Your faith lives on. That's what I want to be known as, that John was a faithful person. By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he could he should not see death, and he was not found because God had taken him. Now, before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God.
And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who who seek him. By faith, Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen and reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. I want you to think about that story for just a second. How nuts do you think the people thought Noah was?
Come on now. You thought he was absolutely bonkers out there building this boat. Well, God told me to, hammering away old crazy Noah out there. You know that was the story. Right?
We read the scripture and it's just kinda flat, but you know there are people living their life watching that boat shaking their head every day. Well, Betty, he's out there again, I hear that hammering. Right? Yeah. But he is living by faith.
Right? Trusting in that what God has told him is is true. And so he has to be faithful to God in this moment and trust that, okay, well, all these people are are seeing me as a crazy person, and yet God has told me, so I've got to be faithful to him. Now, if Noah was living a life just trying to please people, this story ends up a lot differently, doesn't In verse eight, by faith 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. I've given you several examples, different jobs, maybe moving, or things like that that you may have experienced in your life.
Have you ever experienced this? I know we're leaving, I'm just not sure where we're going. Somebody told me that this morning, I think they're absolutely crazy. Right? You must be a hippie.
Right? Straight from the sixties, I don't know. We we don't know where we're going. But that is okay. That is the very definition of faith that God said, I'm giving you an inheritance, and the response is, alright, where are we going?
Or alright, you don't have to tell me, I'm going. That's a life of faith. And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith, he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise, for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God. There was something greater out there for Abraham.
By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive even when she was past the age since she considered him faithful who had promised. Now, let's not skip over this because we know Sarah laughs, don't we? Sarah had a moment where that was pretty funny, and it's still funny to us nowadays. Older lady that all of a sudden is is with child, like, how in the world? Yet scripture remembers her as faithful.
She considered him faithful who had promised. It was not about, okay, here's all the reasons why it can't happen. I can't have a kid, but God is faithful. Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead, which I love, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had an opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. And we still live this faith today, don't we?
We live in faith that Jesus, when he told us he was gone to prepare a place for us, he is doing exactly that. Right? We believe that. We desire that. Now, I don't want you to live a a life where you've probably heard it before that some people are so heavenly minded they're of no earthly good.
You ever heard that before? Just I'm I'm just so focused over here that I don't really care about you guys. I'm just living, I'm praising God by myself, just me and Jesus. Right? I don't want you to be that way, but alright.
This motivates us, this faith that God is doing something for us changes the way we live, and love, and have relationships, and care for one another. Yes? And that's what we see here, that these people live these lives with just God as their God. And the scripture says, they didn't even see the things, you know, promised in the future, and we haven't either. Right?
As we die, alright, well, hasn't come back yet, we're just saying I'll fly away. We haven't flown away yet, but we have faith that God is faithful. Their faith led to action and obedience despite uncertainty. Did you catch that? Faith led to action and obedience despite uncertainty.
I would really like to be certain in every decision I make, and that is impossible, isn't it? I'd really like to know this is the best decision every time, and guess what? Every decision has new surprises, doesn't it? And guess what? Even when, you know, you go to a new church, every church says they're a loving church.
Right? That may or may not be true. If every one of them says it, it's probably not true. Right? Some of the best people I've ever met have been in churches.
Some of the most hateful people I've ever met have been in churches. Do you know that? K? But when we're talking about marks of a true disciple, alright, we're talking about people who are led by their faith. So how do we live faithfully today?
I think we can live faithfully and trusting God in all things, and we trust God in our finances, our relationships, and even our future. We give everything to him. We live in a time where it's it's kind of hard to do this because we have insurance. We have insurance in the way we actually have insurance, or we have insurance in the way we have a bank account, I can kind of put some trust in that. If everything goes wrong, I've got my bank account, I've built up a nest egg.
Well, okay. I hope that gets you a long way. But how about we live lives that we give ourselves completely over to God? That if everything goes wrong, I still have my faith and I still have God, because that could happen. But we should live lives that are giving everything over to God.
I I asked permission to to share a story quickly because as I prepared a this sermon, I thought of Tiffany. Tiffany Warner is not here this morning because she has started a new job, and she shouldn't be traveling a lot on Sundays, but luckily, she works for a company that even apologized for her having to fly out on a Sunday. But Tiffany has lived a life where, know, speaking to her over these last four years didn't turn out the way she thought it would, or hoped it would, or prayed it would. But she keeps on going, and she is a person I see, a person of faith. One Wednesday night, and I told her this, one Wednesday night, we were driving up here and I said something like, I wonder who's going be here Wednesday night?
And Logan said, well, you know miss Tiffany will be because Tiffany is going to be here. Though her life hasn't gone as perfectly as she would hope, and the the things maybe she prayed for didn't end up the way she thought, the The way she thought it was going this way, and it turned and went that way, and she didn't know. And she's lived a life where now I don't know if you've talked to her lately, but she believes she's found her dream job. She loves to travel, that's what she does, and she is now working for a company where she's going to be teaching people how to use this technology, take imaging and all of that stuff. She's going be going all over The United States.
God has blessed her where most Sundays, she'll still be here with her family. And you know what she's told me? I'm still gonna hate missing Wednesday nights, whether it's a small group or our time here together. And that's a that's a life led by faith. Is that though and and how many of you have your has your life just worked out exactly the way you planned?
Now, some of you plan out your life, write it down, and I can't even imagine that because I don't wrap my mind around it, but how many of you is just, man, I don't know what you are talking about this morning, mine has gone perfectly. Anybody there? No? We all have our bumps along the way, and what matters is, where am I going to put my faith? Is my faith in well, if it goes well, I'm going to have faith, or is my faith in God no matter how it goes?
That's the question. So when life is unclear, faith is gonna hold that line for us. Faith is gonna keep us tethered to God and hopefully tethered to each other as we go through those hard and difficult things. So what area of your life are you living by sight and not by faith? What is it this morning, what part of your life can you give to God as you leave here and say, you know what, It's just by sight, it's just by planning, it's just by analyzing, what can you give to God this morning?
Faith is not the absence of fear, it is the courage to move forward anyway because God is trustworthy. I need an amen for that. Well, you all seem a little hesitant on that. Are you not sure? Faith is not the absence of fear, it's the courage to move forward anyway because God is trustworthy.
Even Jesus prayed in the garden, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me. But he prayed, if it be your will. Jesus, knowing what he was gonna go through, did not go through with no fear, you know, in some kind of inhuman way. He approached us with a, ah, can you imagine? I can't hunch.
But it's not the absence of fear, it's the courage to move forward anyway because God is trustworthy. Not because I have it figured out, it's because he is trustworthy. Amen. Next week, we're gonna talk about number two, and that is being love driven as a mark of a true disciple. I hope you'll be here, as we, go through this study.
So I just wanna ask you this morning, is there anything you need to give to God? You've been holding on to, you you you kinda feel like you're in control of it, you want the power over it, what is that thing that you need to give to God this morning? If you've kind of strayed from the path and want the prayers of this church, we'd love to pray with you. If you'd love to put on Jesus in baptism, putting your trust and faith in him, we'd love to see that today. Would you come as we stand and as we sing?