Faith of our Fathers II - Living Grace Fellowship

Wednesday 1/21/15

Topic: Patriarchal Faith Pt. 2

Series – Faith of our Fathers II.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:19:05 — 109.3MB)

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Scriptures:

Heb. 11:5, 6

OVERVIEW of Last Week’s message on Patriarchal faith

They walked with God
They came to know Him
AS A RESULT they trusted Him

The number of times God spoke to these men were few and far between as we can tell from the scriptures, yet there testimony was great!

In every case, even where it does not specifically say so, all of these men (and women alike) walked with God… faith towards and in Him was the result every time!

In the New Testament we see a fundamental change. Instead of God working with a few individual over a large period of time, Jesus extends the invitation to know and trust Him to all who will. This is not to say that God ever held Himself in abeyance from anyone who sought after Him, it is just that in Christ’s ministry – God had come down in physical form to them and invited them to come. Jn. 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

Jesus said to them,

“These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time comes, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. At that day you shall ask in My Name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.” ~ John 16:25-28

God begins to invoke us to talk to Him directly and frequently – “Pray without ceasing”.

Paul says,

Phil. 3:1-11…

Php 3:7-11
“(7) But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.
(8) More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ
(9) and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through reliance upon Christ–the righteousness from God based on genuine trust.
(10) My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
(11) assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.”

So often Christians desire the “faith” our patriarchs had without doing what they did to establish that trust in Him. Every one of them walked with God, heard Him speak to them and living in obedience and ongoing trust in the God they had come to know.

So often Christians go the their Bibles and read what God said to someone else and make it their own. They convince themselves that because God does not change and is not a respecter of persons He is vicariously saying the same thing to them. There are two HUGE problems with this…

#1. God may not be telling you the same thing He told them!

Example: Christian’s try to use Deut. 28 (just the first part of the chapter of course) to pronounce nothing but prosperity and blessings over their long, happy, carefree lives with no regard to what covenant that was written under, what ‘ifs’ were part of that covenant, without truly believing the large list of curses listed in the second half of the chapter could ever come upon them. This is duplicitous thinking and is not biblically sound!

What if when the Lord told Peter that by being martyred in a terrible way, he would glorify God, Peter turned to Jesus and started quoting and claiming Deut. 28 and other promises given to other people? “I will live and not die, be the head and not the tail, people will come at me 1 way and flee 7 ways…etc.”

You can only trust God concerning Who He said He is to YOU! For Peter He was the God of second chances. Peter had vehemently denied the Lord 3 times when he had the chance to stand for Him. Jesus confronts Peter 3x’s on the sea-shore about his love for Him just before telling him that one day he would willingly give his life in martyrdom for Christ and His glory.

Jesus’ response to Peter’s immediate question about God’s intention with John’s future is both telling and priceless! “If it is my desire that he remain alive until I return, what difference should that make to you? You’re job Peter is to follow me!”

#2 Even if God would tell you the same thing – you have to hear Him say it to you!

The outstanding truth of all our patriarchs is that they encountered God and were radically and forever changed as a result. Their trust in Him sprang effortlessly out of their encounters with Him.

Not one single forefather walked by the faith they generated by reading about the things God promised and did for someone else. They walked by faith in what they heard Him say to them!

Some of the greatest examples of faith came from those who had no Bible to read in the first place!

Enoch, Noah, Job, Abram, Moses – ALL existed before the first page of the Bible had been written and collected into the body of texts we call the Bible.

During the remainder of the message I encouraged them to stir themselves and each other up by reading and commenting on the following passages.

2Timothy 1:6, “Therefore I remind you to stir up (re-kindle) the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”

Heb. 10:24, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up (a sharpening, to encourage to some action or feeling) love and good works,”

2Peter 1:13, “Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up (to wake up and fully arose from sleep) by reminding you,”

2Peter 3:1, “Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds (same as above) by way of reminder),”

I also read, 1 Thess. 5 :6-28.

We hope you will enjoy the rest of this teaching.

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Pastor Mark

View posts by Pastor Mark

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!