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Sunday 4/05/26
Title: Faith of our Fathers Pt. 1
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Faith of our Fathers Pt. 1
We’ve been covering faith and hope for a few months now and we have developed quite a list of bullet point statements about faith in the process. Let’s review…
- Faith is the foundational support for what you CAN RIGHTLY expect from God.
- Faith is always IN God and not FOR a thing or outcome.
- Faith begins where God is revealed (not just where His will is known).
- Faith is always IN God as a person, not in what we know ABOUT His will.
- Faith is God focused not ME focused.
- Reverence for God is foundational to faith.
- Faith is NOT difficult or hard to come by.
- Faith isn’t conjured, it comes!
- Faith is automatic if your heart is open and unprotected.
- Faith’s motive is always pure.
- Faith ALWAYS bears fruit – has correlating action.
- Faith doesn’t need a shield, it IS one.
- Faith is authored and matured within us by Jesus Himself
With all of this knowledge about faith, you’d think we’d be pretty well developed in it, but knowing a thing and exercising it are two different things entirely.
In Hebrews we are told that those who are mature are those who exercise what they know. It is Hebrew’s way of saying what James said by, “but be doers of the Word and not hearers only; deceiving yourselves.”
Hebrews 5:12-14, “(12) For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food. (13) For everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced in the message of righteousness, because he is an infant. (14) But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil.”
So I began to consider that perhaps we need to be more intentional about flexing our faith muscles which sounds dangerously close to the direction some mainstream charismatic groups take the teaching of faith. So I want to be clear.
Back in our Word of Faith days it was common practice to “find a scripture to stand on.” By which we meant, to find somewhere in scripture where it appears God is promising you something you desire and then meditate on that promise until it is rhema to you. Then speak to your mountain and “stand in faith” until it comes to pass. Of course we know now that there is as much wrong with this approach as there are parts which are correct about it. Faith is not a tool we can use to manipulate or change our circumstances, it is a product of true and intimate relationship with God where we come to know Him and His word to us, and place our trust IN HIM regarding His word to us.
All this we know – but can we be purposeful in our trusting God? Yes, and we have addressed this in the past. Most specifically we have pointed out our need to ‘live out our faith – BY faith” which is to say, we are to look to Jesus in faith to live in and through us so as to produce His image within us. To mature us to the point of continual fruit that bears His image and likeness in character.
But I am afraid that such may have been too broad a stroke for you. Perhaps what you need are more tangible, baby steps towards that end goal.
So I considered that such were the very things Jesus was addressing to the 7 churches of Asia in Revelation 2-3. The things He was addressing covered many of the baby steps we live out in our union with Him which produces maturity in us.
But before we read this account we REALLY need an insight and a cipher afforded us in chapter 1. I will read and comment only enough to responsibly equip us to begin reading what Jesus said to the church in Ephesus. We will circle back upon some details in chapter 1 next week.
From this point on in the message there was commentary which is not in this article which may help you if you are attempting to follow along on this series within the series of ‘From Faith to Faith’. So I encourage you to listen to the audio which is available at the top of this page or in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Turn with me to Revelation 1…
“(1) The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must happen very soon. He made it clear by sending His angel to His servant John, (2) who then testified to everything that he saw concerning the word of God and the testimony about Jesus Christ.
(3) Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey the things written in it, because the time is near!
(4) From John, to the seven churches that are in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from “He Who is,” and Who was, and Who is still to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, (5) and from Jesus Christ – the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth.
To the one who loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of His Own blood (6) and has appointed us as a kingdom, as priests serving His God and Father – to Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever! Amen.
(7) (Look! He is returning with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes on the earth will mourn because of Him. This will certainly come to pass! Amen.)
(8) “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God – the One Who is, and Who was, and Who is still to come – the All-Powerful!
(9) I, John, your brother and the one who shares with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.
(10) I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day when I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, (11) saying:
“Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches – to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
(12) I turned to see whose voice was speaking to me, and when I did so, I saw seven golden lampstands, (13) and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man.
He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet and he wore a wide golden belt around his chest.
(14) His head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame.
(15) His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.
(16) He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His face shone like the sun shining at full strength.
(17) When I saw Him I fell down at His feet as though I were dead, but He placed His right hand on me and said:
“Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, (18) and the One Who lives! I was dead, but look, now I am alive – forever and ever – and I hold the keys of death and of Hades!
(19) Therefore write what you saw, what is, and what will be after these things.
(20) The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
Revelation 2:1-7,
“(1)To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write the following:
“This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who has a firm grasp on the seven stars in his right hand – the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands:”
Blessings!
Blessings!
