Finding Faith

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Finding Faith
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Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him
for righteousness. Romans 43
Righteousness
Faith
Grace
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Unpacking Abrahams Faith
Passage
And he believed in the LORD and he counted it to
him for righteousness.
Gen 156 Believed in unseen God
As it is written, "I have made you the father of
many nations." Abraham acted in faith when he
stood in God's presence, who gives life to the
dead and calls into existence things that don't
even exist.
Rom 417 Resurrection Promises
He was then almost one hundred years old but his
faith did not weaken when he thought of his body,
which was already practically dead, or of the
fact that Sarah could not have children.
Rom 419 Believed the impossible
His faith did not leave him, and he did not doubt
God's promise his faith filled him with power,
and he gave praise to God.
Rom 420 Energizing
He was absolutely sure that God would be able to
do what he had promised.
Rom 421 Unassailable Conviction
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Belief beyond Reason

• Brings life from death
• Calls into existence things that do not exist
• Romans 417
• Who against hope
• When there was no reason for hoping
• The realm of the impossible
• God does not expect us to submit our Faith to Him
  without reason, but the very limits of our reason
  make Faith a necessity

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Our Faith

1. Belief in the unseen God
2. Belief in Resurrection
3. Belief in impossible We can be made right with
   God
4. Unassailable Conviction
5. It is Energizing Results in Action

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Finding Faith

• Session 2 Faith Perfects

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The Mind of Faith Faith Perfects
The Refining of Faith Faith in Suffering
The Victory of Faith Faith in Suffering
The Fathers of Faith Faith in Action
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The Mind of Faith Illustrated
The Story of the Rich Young Man Matthew 1916
KJVR And, behold, one came and said unto him,
Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I
may have eternal life?
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Compliance leads to Compromise
And Pharisees actually believed that they could
be good and acceptable before God because they
complied with the requirements of
God Philippians 34-6 KJVR Though I might also
have confidence in the flesh. If any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in
the flesh, I more 5 Circumcised the eighth
day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of
Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching
the law, a Pharisee 6 Concerning zeal,
persecuting the church touching the
righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Before we shake our heads at the Pharisees We
must remember how easy it is for us to fall into
the works/compliance mindset We see
discipleship as a series of things we must
do Be baptised Attend the meeting Help the
needy Visit the sick Preach the Gospel As if any
of these alone can save us
Matthew 154-9 WEB For God commanded, 'Honor
your father and your mother,' and, 'He who speaks
evil of father or mother, let him be put to
death.' 5 But you say, 'Whoever may tell his
father or his mother, "Whatever help you might
otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted
to God," 6 he shall not honor his father or
mother.' You have made the commandment of God
void because of your tradition. 7 You
hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you,
saying, 8 'These people draw near to me with
their mouth, and honor me with their lips but
their heart is far from me. 9 And in vain do
they worship me, teaching as doctrine rules made
by men.' "
Lowering the bar

• To make 100 possible laws were diluted and
  made possible
• Focus was on legal correctness forget the
  spirit of the law

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Only God is Good
There is no one Good but God
Salvation comes to those who recognize the
condition of human nature and seek Gods grace
through faith. Instead of focusing on mistakes
and trying to bring God down to an achievable
level (compliance) they stretch for perfection
relying on the grace of God (excellence)
Jesus was sinless but he was still flesh In
Gods eyes flesh can never be good it needs to
be transformed
1 Peter 124 KJVR For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The
grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth
away What happened to the best person ever to
live Galatians 313 KJVR Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us for it is written, Cursed is every one
that hangeth on a tree

• Why did Jesus challenge this first statement
• Good Master?
• He was challenging the mindset that any flesh can
  be good before God.

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Keep the Commandments
What about the God-focused Commandments?
Mat 1920 WEB The young man said to him, All
these things I have observed from my youth. What
do I still lack? Ive watched and measured my
performance on the compliance graph Do I lack
anything or am I OK?
Do not Bear False witness
Do not Steal
Do not Kill
Do not Commit Adultery
Honor Your Father And Mother
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Graphical representation of Compliance-Based
Salvation
Good
On track for Eternal life
Lacking a little
Work to do
Rules, Commandments, Regulations
My works
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Is God Topping us up?
Passage
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we all do
fade as a leaf and our iniquities, like the
wind, have taken us away.
Isa 646 Filthy Rags
And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe
to do all these commandments before the LORD our
God, as he hath commanded us.
Deut 625 Our Righteousness
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel
shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby
he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Jer 236 Gods Righteousness
In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem
shall dwell safely and this is the name
wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our
righteousness.
Jer 3316 Gods Righteousness
KJV The LORD hath brought forth our
righteousness come, and let us declare in Zion
the work of the LORD our God.
Jer 5110 Gods Righteousness
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In Search of Perfection
Mat 1921 WEB Jesus said to him, If you want to
be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to
the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven
and come, follow me.
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Mission Impossible
Mat 1925-26 WEB When the disciples heard it,
they were exceedingly astonished, saying, Who
then can be saved? (26) Looking at them, Jesus
said, With men this is impossible, but with God
all things are possible
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How does God make impossible possible?
Mat 1720 KJV And Jesus said unto them, Because
of your unbelief for verily I say unto you, If
ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye
shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to
yonder place and it shall remove and nothing
shall be impossible unto you.
If only you had Faith and relied on God And not
Riches and relied on Yourself
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GRACE (Eph 28)
FAITH (Gal 55)
LIFE (Eph 28)
RIGHTEOUS-NESS (Gal 55)
Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be
justified in his sight. For through the law comes
the knowledge of sin. (Rom 320 WEB) For the
wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God
is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom
623 WEB)
Starts with God
WAGES (Rom 623)
SIN (Rom 320)
WORKS (Rom 320)
DEATH (Rom 623)
For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of
righteousness by faith. (Gal 55 KJVR) For by
grace are ye saved through faith and that not of
yourselves it is the gift of God (Eph 28 KJVR)
Starts with Man
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Compliance vs Faith Mindset
Compliance Mindset Faith Mindset
Starts with Me Starts with God
Focus on Works Focus on Faith
Focus on Sins Lacking Works Focus on Perfection
Fears Failure Pushes for Growth
Reduce Requirements Strives for Perfection
Lives to comply Lives to delight
What can I do? What will God do?
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Pushing for Perfection through Faith

• Philippians 312-15 KJVR 12 Not as though I had
  already attained, either were already perfect
  but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that
  for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
  13 Brethren, I count not myself to have
  apprehended but this one thing I do, forgetting
  those things which are behind, and reaching forth
  unto those things which are before, 14 I press
  toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
  of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as
  many as be perfect, be thus minded and if in any
  thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal
  even this unto you.

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Faith Perfects
Mat 548 WEB Therefore you shall be perfect,
just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
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Amen