Living by Faith – Part 1

Audio Transcript

Alright. Well, good morning. It’s good to see you all. Good-looking bunch this morning. Most of you.

Before I say anymore, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to let Anna Wells come and share with us about her mission trip to New Orleans. You guys helped make that happen, and she’s back and wants to share a little update for us. So you come on up, Anna. I’ll let you do that. There you go.

Hi, everyone. It’s been so long since I’ve been up here. I forgot how scary it was. It’s okay. Okay. Hi, everyone.

For those of you who don’t know who I am, my name is Anna. I’ve grown up at this church, but then back in August, I moved away to Ohio to join a professional ballet company slash ministry up there. And so that’s where I’ve been for the past year.

And the opportunity, we had an amazing opportunity to go to New Orleans on a mission trip just at the beginning of this month. And so I remember coming back in January and talking to you about that. So now I’m here to tell you about what happened during that trip.

And so I’m super excited to be sharing it with you guys today. So we were there for 10 days. Two of them were travel days, so we were there for eight full days, and so seven, no, four, yeah, seven out of those eight days we did dancing multiple times a day in many different parts of New Orleans. We danced in the French Quarter, we danced in churches, we danced in City Park, and we danced pretty much anywhere that we could. Technically, you’re supposed to have a permit, but a lot of people don’t, so it’s okay. We were fine. We didn’t get arrested.

So the most impactful outreach that we had was the very first one that we had in New Orleans. Someone that brought us down, they have a church inside the New Orleans Healing Center. And so the New Orleans Healing Center is basically, it’s this big building. There’s like a barbershop in there. There’s like a market. There’s a gym. There’s just like a, like, there’s like a spiritual shop or whatever in there.

But the main, like, attraction, I guess, is the man-made, like, idols that they have. It’s basically these sculptures of, like, there was like a chameleon, and there was, like, this, like, skeleton, I don’t know, thing. And there was these man-made idols that you just, like, see them. They’re like these, like, clay sculpture things covered in glitter and paint. And people were coming, and they were worshiping, and they were leaving offerings to these idols. And we met inside Cafe Istanbul, which is, like, this little, like, venue inside of the Healing Center.

So we first walked in there, and it was pitch black because it didn’t have, like, overhead lights. It was just stage lights. And so we had to figure out how to turn those on. But we first walk in there. It’s pitch black. And immediately we smell a bunch of weed, and we smell a bunch of cigarette smoke. And it just, like, hit us. And we’re like, “Whoa, like, what did we just walk into?” And we turn the lights on.

And as soon as we turn the lights on, we look across where we’re standing. And there’s, like, a full bar, like, with alcohol and, like, all the things. And we were like, “Wow, like, this is crazy. Like, what are we doing?” And this is where they meet for church on Sunday mornings.

And so something that was very impactful, like, before we had the church service, we went outside, like, into the actual Healing Center and, like, walked around, like, saw the idols and just, like, seeing that and feeling physically the impact that has. We felt, we, some of us got dizzy. Some of us had headaches. Some of us just felt really tired. And just, like, the physical impact that those had on your body is something that I never experienced before. And I was like, “Whoa, like, that’s crazy.”

And so after the church service, they had a community meal that they do every fifth… They invite people from on the streets or wherever to come, and they have some sort of food, like, whether that’s sandwiches. I think they had sandwiches that day. And they just invited people to come, and so we had the opportunity to perform for these people our story ballet. Our story ballet is called “Wrecked, Rescued, and Redeemed.” And so it’s a three-song piece or ballet, and it starts with the story of this girl, and she is putting her effort… She’s like, “Oh, my identity is in my money. My identity is in how successful I am. My identity is in alcohol. My identity is in all these things.”

And at the end of the first piece, she realizes, like, “Nothing’s working. Like, I feel so empty inside.” And so then it leads into the song “Rescue” by Lauren Daigle. And it’s us telling her, like, “You can be rescued. Like, you don’t have to be, you don’t have to be stuck in this anymore.” And then our last song in that piece is called “Sing to Jesus,” which is essentially just us worshiping to Jesus. Like, “Thank You for taking the cross for us.” It’s a very beautiful song if you want to listen to it.

But just, like, getting to praise in a room and in that building where the name of the Lord is not typically praised and getting to dance and praise the Lord in that place was just so impactful. And I felt the Holy Spirit just, like, in that room. And I was like, “Yeah, this is what it’s supposed to be.” It’s not, like, yes, there’s man-made idols that people worship, but we’re worshiping Someone that’s even higher than that. We’re worshiping the one true God and just, like, seeing Him and feeling His presence while we’re dancing in that, in that space was just so impactful.

We also had the opportunity to dance in, like, the French Quarter, and something that was really cool about that. So we were dancing in front of, like, this chapel that’s there. And so we walk into, like, this little area, and we, like, set up our little place, and I look to my right and I look to my left and I look on either side of me, and there are voodoo stands on either side of us. There’s, like, a palm reader on one side and, like, a fortin teller on the other side. And then I’m just like, “We’re right here in the middle of both of those praising the name of the Lord.”

And I’m just, like, and just seeing New Orleans and seeing how dark it is and how just, like, it’s very spiritual, whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. That’s, yeah, but it’s a very spiritual place. And so getting to, like, share the name of Jesus and just share how good He is to people and getting to talk to people who maybe have grown up Catholic or maybe grew up in church, but they were like, “Yeah, like, that’s not for me anymore.” But then getting to share the Lord with people was just so impactful. And it was so beautiful to just get to see all those people and just hear from people. Yeah.

And so we also got to perform in City Park. And I didn’t personally get to talk to these people, but my director was talking to people after one of our dances. And there were three, like, younger girls. I think the oldest one was maybe, like, 12, and then, like, like younger girls. And she got to share the full gospel with them. She was like, “Hey, like, Jesus came to die for you.” And she also got to pray for them. And she was like, “Maybe one day, like, you can be, like…” She didn’t want to, like, make them become saved, you know. But she was like, “Yeah, like, this is what I prayed when I wanted to become saved. And if that’s something you want to do, then you can take that step.”

And then she also got to talk to their father afterwards. And he is very, not, like, anti-Christian, but he basically told her, he’s like, “Yeah, like, one day when they’re older, I’ll tell them what the Bible is, like, really about.” And just, like, a very broken mindset. And so just the fact that she got to pour into those girls who are not probably going to learn about Christ from him is just something that was also very impactful. So He just worked so much in the trip. And I was excited to come back because I was really tired. But I also was like, “Oh, I wish I could stay so much longer.”

So, yeah, I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to come share with you guys. For everyone that maybe was, who was partnered with me, whether that was financially or even if you were just a prayer partner. Not even. If you were just. Yeah. OK. I thank you for anyone that was along with me in that journey in prayer. And I just thank you that I had the opportunity to come up here and share that with you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This to you.

Thank you very, very much. That was awesome. You could say, and thank you to the prayer partners and even those who only gave a little bit. Thank you to them too as well. Alright. Well, let’s pray.

Father, we thank You for this privilege to be here this morning to gather as Your body. And Father, we just want to declare that You are our head, the head of our body, Lord Jesus. And we thank You that we can all be members of Your body, Your body here on this earth, Your hands and feet here.

And Father, when we gather like this, we consider it a privilege to be able to encourage one another, to be able to lift our voices and praise You and bless You. And Father, now as we open Your Word, this is a privilege as well. We do not take this lightly. I do not take this lightly. And God, despite my weaknesses, Lord, I ask that You would bring forth Your truth this morning. Lord, as we look into Your Word and look at this topic of faith, Lord, we ask that You would illuminate our minds, that You would allow this to go straight to our hearts, that You would teach us this morning and feed us with Your living words.

Lord, feed us with the manna You have provided for us this morning. We ask You, Holy Spirit, to come and to be present here with us. None of these words will make any sense if You do not breathe life into them, if You do not come and teach us what they mean. So we thank You in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Alright. This morning I want to talk about, I kind of titled this “Living by Faith,” and we’re going to talk about something that’s very important to us in our relationship with the Lord, and that is faith. I’ve got a lot of scriptures, as usual, and I’ll have those on the screen. You know, as Christians, we know that our faith in God is actually the very conduit through which we are able to receive His grace and the free gift that He has given for us in His Son, Jesus. And that is actually His way of salvation. It’s not through anything that we’ve done, that we’ve earned. As Scripture tells us, it’s not through religious works, but it’s through faith in God and then receiving the grace that He offers us in Jesus.

So that’s an important topic, of course, and we’re going to look into it a little bit further since so much hinges on this. And I just want to kind of just look at a few examples in Scripture of what genuine faith looks like. I’ll open with this passage in 2 Corinthians 5.

Let me turn my little clicker on. Paul writes this to the believers in Corinth, “Therefore, we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body,” meaning these physical bodies, “we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”

I love how Paul brings that out. And I, you know, highlighted the little “live by faith.” Several of these passages that we’ll be looking at have that phrase, “live by faith.” And I love that Paul makes that distinction between being here in this body, which means we’re away from the Lord, or being away from our bodies, which means we will be with the Lord. And it’s always a great reminder. I almost brought a message this morning on the brevity of life.

I’ve talked about that a lot. And I just, maybe it’s partly my melancholy personality that I think about the brevity of life a good bit. But I actually think it’s a very healthy thing for us to do. And I caught myself flipping through obituaries not long ago. Yes, I know, that sounds really odd to you, I’m sure. But it’s actually a very wise thing to do, I believe, at times, to really think about the brevity of life. Scripture tells us to do that. God tells us it’s a good thing to remember how short our life really is. But it helps us to keep things in perspective. It helps us to remember that we are frail. We’re just vapors that are here today, gone tomorrow. This life here is temporary. And so it keeps everything in proper perspective when we think about eternity.

And so anyway, I didn’t bring a message this morning about brevity of life, but we’re talking about faith. But what I like that Paul points out here is just this distinction between if we’re here in this body, we’re away from the Lord, but we have things to do. Our focus, our goal is pleasing Him, doing His work, doing the assignments that He has for us, carrying out His will while we are here and away from Him, while we were in these bodies. Because soon we’re going to be away from these bodies and with the Lord, and that’s going to be awesome. But our work here will be done. So until then, we’ve got a lot to do. And I kind of feel like he’s just kind of bringing that out here and to live by faith and not by sight. So we’re going to dig into the living by faith part.

Another scripture is in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 38. It says this, “And my righteous ones will live by faith, but I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.” Now this verse is a reference to an Old Testament passage found in Habakkuk. It’s Habakkuk 2:4. And by the way, I have found, I really love that we have all of our video recordings on YouTube. And going through this Unravel series, going through the whole Bible, we also have playlists for certain books. So there’s a playlist for Habakkuk, so you can watch the three messages that Phil brought on the book of Habakkuk. We got them for all the various sections and books of the Bible, so it’s very helpful to be able to go back and watch those.

But Habakkuk 2:4 reads like this, “Look at the proud. They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked, but the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.” Now this is, if you remember back when we covered, when Phil covered Habakkuk, this is Habakkuk the prophet, and he has basically brought a question to God. In a sense, he is kind of complaining about the state of the people of God at that time and how they had turned from Him and turned from His ways, yet it seems that there’s no consequences for it.

And Habakkuk, being a righteous man, is just getting kind of a righteous anger about this continuing to go on. And he’s venting to the Lord. And the Lord answers him. And here’s one of the answers. And basically the Lord is saying, “The judgment that you think is not coming is actually coming in My timing, not necessarily your timing, but it shall come.” And He makes it known to Habakkuk of His plan of bringing the Chaldeans, also known as the Babylonians, to bring judgment on the people of God. And this was a brutal nation. No doubt there was going to be lots of lives lost.

But God makes a distinction here in this. He makes a distinction. And “Look at the proud.” These are the ones who have turned away from God. The self-reliant. The proud. Those who are wicked in their actions. But part of the wickedness is simply that they have turned from God who has done so much for them. And they’ve turned to their own ways. And God is saying that they trust in themselves and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by faith. Your translation may say, “The righteous will live by faith.” I like how the New Living Translation brings it out. “The righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.”

Whenever you see the word faith in Scripture, know that faith is synonymous with faithfulness. You can’t have faith without being faithful. So to say you have faith but to not be faithful in the one you have faith, it means nothing. So to have faith is to be faithful, and to be faithful to God means that you have faith. You are full of faith. So you can’t separate the two words. So when you see faith, you can replace it with faithfulness. And I like how this translation points this out of “the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.”

Now God, as I mentioned, was bringing judgment. But He wanted to make this distinction that the righteous, meaning, remember that the righteous are not those who have earned this by their works, but they have earned this by their faith in God. They have been deemed righteous because they believe in Him, they trust in Him, their faith is in Him. And He says, “They will continue to live because of their faithfulness to Me.”

There’s a passage in Hebrews, another passage that I want to mention. You’ve heard this many times, and it begins like this. This is Hebrews 11:6. “And without faith, it is impossible to please God.” I think that we should let this sink in often because it’s a very important phrase right here, a very important statement that the writer of Hebrews is saying. “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.”

And so the first thing I want to look at is faith in God is believing in Him. Now, and you can jot that down, I don’t have the title up there, but faith in God is believing in Him. And that may seem given to you, but I think a lot of people sometimes really don’t understand when they see the word believe or they think of believe. They don’t really understand what it’s meaning.

Sometimes if you want to do a good word study, I would recommend doing a word study on believe. And in the New Testament in Greek, the word that is used there most often translated as believe or believing is pistis, oftentimes used in a verb form called pistou. And you will find that it is more than what we often think of or talk about when we use the word believe, because postuo is a verb form, and that’s where it’s often found in that verb form, especially in the writings of John when he writes his gospel. Things like, you know, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” So those who believe, or postuo, are believing. It’s an ongoing, it’s a continuous verb form, not just a one-off, not just a, not a noun of belief, but it’s, it’s a verb form. So anyway, a good word study is to really dig into believe or believing in that word pistis or pistuo.

So the full verse here, Hebrews 11:6, reads like this. “And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Now, your translation may say, instead of the word earnestly, it may say diligently. “Diligently seek Him.” And the Greek word that’s used here for seek has a preposition attached to it. And that preposition actually takes the word a little bit further. The verb seek, it takes it a little bit further. And we might translate this in English as “seek out” rather than just “seek.”

It would be “seek out.” So if I said in English that I am, I might say that I’m seeking out someone. And if I say I’m seeking out someone, that’s not just a one-off seek. That’s a, I’m going to seek you out until I find you. It’s a diligent seeking until I have sought you out, until I have found you. And that’s what the word is communicating here with that preposition attached to this verb for seek. And that’s why some translations will say earnestly seek or diligently seek. And I like that. Diligently seek Him. And that’s something that we need to do and know and understand that God is a God who rewards those who do this.

I’m always fascinated by how often Scripture talks about rewards. It’s full of many, many mentions of rewards. And it’s often God reminding us of the rewards He will give us, the blessings He will give us. So we don’t have to be ashamed of talking about rewards. A lot of times we feel badly if we make something sound like we’re doing something for a reward. But God is not ashamed of that. He tells us often that the reason you want to do something is because “I will then bless you. I will then reward you.” He has no problem with that.

So we can also see the opposite here in Romans when Paul writes to the Christian believers in Rome, and he is talking about all the people and them being guilty in their sin. And he writes this, “As the Scriptures say, no one is righteous, not even one. No one is truly wise. No one is seeking God.” And there, he makes that correlation of those who don’t know the Lord. They don’t have understanding of Him. They are still in their sins. And a description of them would be they are not seeking God.

So the reason for seeking out the Lord, well, it’s mentioned also in many places in Scripture. One would be in Jeremiah, and Jeremiah writes here in chapter 9, verses 23 and 24, it says, “Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches. But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me.” You can underline that part right there. “That he understands and knows Me.” God is talking. “That I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

God makes a statement here and emphasizes how important it is to seek Him out so that we can have understanding and we can know Him. It’s to understand who He is, and it’s to know Him. Not just know Him as our God and being a person, a divine entity, but to know His ways. So when we seek Him out, it’s for the purpose of understanding Him and knowing Him. Part of His ways, He mentions here in this verse, that He practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. Because those are things that He delights in. I love when God describes Himself. It is so helpful.

It’s one of the reasons why it’s so important to read all of Scripture. New Testament is great because we get to see God in the flesh, how He interacted with man, how He loved and had compassion on people, how He rebuked people, how He healed people, how He granted mercy towards people. But it’s not in just the New Testament, in the person Jesus Christ and His Son where we see God. It’s in the Old Testament. All throughout, we see God’s interactions with mankind. And so reading the Old Testament, not just once, but continue to read the Bible through, you get a much better understanding of who God is and knowing Him and knowing His ways.

So no one is going to diligently seek God if they don’t believe He exists. This just isn’t going to happen. But if they do believe, and they believe He’s a good God who rewards those who diligently seek Him, then there will be a pursuit by that person to understand Him and to know His ways.

Now, God has ordained a way for people to come to believe or to believe in Him. Paul writes that faith comes by hearing. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Some translations in that verse, we’ll look at a little bit more in a minute, but “faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God.” Some translations say “hearing by the Word of Christ.” So just a flyby real quick to remind us of some examples of this.

Abraham heard the words of God and believed Him. Moses heard the words of God and believed Him. The people of Israel heard God speak to Moses, and they believed in Him. Thousands heard Jesus speak the words of God, and they believed in Him. Cornelius heard the words of God through Peter and believed in Jesus. Saul, who later became Paul, Saul heard the words of Jesus when he was intercepted on the Damascus Road, heard the words of Jesus, and he believed in Him. The Samaritans heard the words of God through Philip, and they believed in Jesus. The Gentiles, all the many non-Jews in the nations that the apostles went out to begin preaching this, the Gentiles heard the words of God through Paul and other apostles and believed in Jesus.

Now listen to what Paul writes to the believers in Thessalonica. In Thessalonians, the letter he writes to the Thessalonians. He says this in chapter 2, verse 13, “And we also ask…” Excuse me. “And we also thank God continually, because when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as a human word, but as it actually is, the Word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.” So a clear distinction, a clear explanation of how faith or belief comes through hearing the words of God.

We see it also in Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome. And in Romans chapter 10, starting in verse 13, here’s where this phrase comes from. Paul writes, “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” Don’t get thrown off by preacher. We’re all preachers. We’re all witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are sharing this message, this good news, these words to people as we interact with them.

“And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?’ So then, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”

I love that. And it’s something that we really need to remember and understand that there’s two important points in this. One is that faith comes through hearing the Word of God. And the other is faith grows by continuing to hear God’s Word. There’s not just a one-off that we hear the Word of God, we then believe, and then that’s it. Our faith needs to continue to grow. There is a maintaining of our faith that is important, a guarding of our faith, a taking the Lord’s manna that He provides for us through His living Word, the living bread. The apostles said, “To whom shall we go? Lord, You have the words of life.” His words bring life. And so it’s not just a hear it one time to create or generate faith. It’s a hearing it and continuing to hear it. Faith comes by hearing it, and faith will continue to grow by hearing it, by hearing His words.

Well, let’s move on to the next thing, which is faith in God is trusting Him. Now, trusting someone first requires believing in him or believing in them, the person. But trusting takes it a step further. It requires action. It involves risk.

I contemplated doing a demonstration this morning. I was going to do a trust fall. I thought, “I wonder if my wife would be willing to do that with me.” But, you know, a trust fall, many of you, if you’ve been involved with youth groups and stuff, you’ve done this or whatever, but it’s a great demonstration and illustration of whether or not you trust someone. And so you ask the person to stand there, “Turn your back to me, and I want you to just put out your arms and just fall. Keep your body straight, just fall back, and I will catch you.” And it’s a great demonstration, illustration, sometimes it’s not demonstrated because they don’t trust the person, but it’s a great illustration of whether or not that person trust the other person. Now, a lot of times teenagers, they’re so reckless, they just do it no matter what. But if I asked Rex to come up here and fall backwards, and I said, “Rex, do you trust me?”

I do think if I asked my wife to come up that she probably would, would trust me to do that now. When I was thinking through this, I, I was thinking about Pam, would she trust me to do that? And, and I thought, you know, I wasn’t always trustworthy in that respect. I used to be a little bit of a prankster, and I’ll never forget. I still feel terrible about this, but when Pam and I were dating, this is, this was, like, maybe the first time I met, she may not know what I’m about to say, one of the first times I met her parents. I think maybe the, could have been the first time I met her, her dad, I don’t remember, but we met in a, at a restaurant. We were going to school in Tennessee, and we met them at a restaurant, and after we ate we were outside, and there was a little playground area, and they had a seesaw, a teeter-totter, what do you call it? Seesaw. Who, many, how many say seesaw? How many say teeter-totter? Not as many say teeter-totter, but anyway, they both mean the same thing. So you know the seesaw. They don’t have them at playgrounds much anymore, and I’m going to explain why.

But so we’re just out hanging out with Pam’s parents, and Pam and I got on the seesaw, the teeter-totter, and we’re going back and forth. That stupid me and the young and dumb, I was young and dumb, trying to be silly, being a prankster. Pam and I are seesawing. Now, a seesaw requires two people.

It requires two people, and it requires cooperation. It requires trust in the other person that this person’s body weight is going to be on the other side of this teeter-totter, this seesaw. Well, we’re going up and down, and I, for some reason, because I’m young and dumb, I’m going up and down, and I go down, and I thought, “Watch this,” and I step off the teeter-totter. I step off the… The older people know what this means. This was terrible.

What this means was Pam’s over here having fun. “Wee!” Imagine her up, up. I’m down. She’s up. I get off. She’s down. She drops and was not expecting this. And so she’s not getting her legs out under her to catch her. She dropped and hits the ground right on her tail on this Dieter Totter. And it was painful. You’re starting to see it. She did. I don’t know how to understand.

But listen, her dad, oh, my goodness. And he is such a meek and mild guy and so kind and gentle. And he struggled with that one. And I felt so bad, so stupid, young and dumb. I don’t know why I did it. She did still marry me. We don’t get on teeter-totters anymore. She will not do a seesaw with me. But there’s a little glimpse of our young lives. So that was not even in my notes.

And the reason I said that was trust. The trust fall. A seesaw requires trust. Trust requires risk. If there’s no risk, there’s no need to trust, but to trust someone means there’s going to be some risk involved. God wants us to trust in Him, not just to believe in Him, not just to believe that He exists and that He’s a good God who rewards people who are seeking Him diligently, but He actually wants us to trust in Him even when a risk is involved, even really more so when a risk is involved. Trust is very important. So faith, faith has, to be genuine faith, there must be an amount of trust there.

Now, it’s not going to be perhaps a lot in the beginning, but as you walk with the Lord, as you begin to follow Him and be willing to step out in faith, trusting, even though it’s risky, but trusting that He’s trustworthy. He’s leading me to do this. It makes no sense. The world may think it’s foolish. However, He asked me to trust Him and to believe in Him, to have faith in Him means to trust in Him. So you step out, and you are then able to see if God is trustworthy.

Trust is something that builds the more you experience it, exercise it, your trust in someone. And it either builds trust or it destroys trust, which is important, why it’s important for us to be trustworthy people. But God is trustworthy. So faith in God is trusting Him.

Let’s look at a few examples in Scripture. I’ll just mention them. Abraham trusted God when God told him to sacrifice his son Isaac, the one who had been promised to him, the one he had waited so long to receive, and had lost hope, and tried to make his own way of having an heir of all of his land and people and all that. He tried to make his own way, but God was faithful to the promise, and he did have a son, even at their old age. He and Sarah’s old age. And then God asked him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. That required a huge amount of trust.

Mary and Joseph trusted God with bringing Jesus into this world. Take some time, some time to think about what Mary and Joseph had to go through, being that she had conceived a child before they had actually married, they were betrothed, and what they had to go through with all of that.

Peter trusted Jesus when Jesus called him to walk on the water. That’s a huge amount of trust that Peter had in his Lord Jesus, who was standing out on the water and beckoned him to come. Peter stepped out on the boat, and Scripture tells us, began to walk on the water like his Lord. A huge amount of trust to do that. And of course, we know he got fearful and began to sink, but the Lord was right there with him and did not let him. The Lord was trustworthy in that.

2 Corinthians 5:7, Paul writes this, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” We walk by faith, not by sight. You could also say, “For we live by faith, not by sight.” To live and to walk in Scripture often is the same thing. How we walk is how we live. How we live is how we walk. And we know that often the ways of the Lord are described as ways, how we are walking with the Lord, how we are living or walking our lives out.

Now, these are great examples that I mentioned, but let me bring it a little closer to home for us. Let’s talk about giving. Just a very practical thing that everyone can relate to. Lock the door there. Don’t let anybody out. We don’t talk about giving a lot here, and I’m not talking about giving to this church, so just relax. I’m not talking about giving to this church, but there is a black box on the back wall there. Now listen, giving, this is a simple test for us to see if we’re trusting. If we’re trusting God concerning our money.

So first we need to consider Jesus’ instructions. So here’s one place where it talks about money. The Bible talks a lot about money. God has a lot to say about money. It’s an important part of our lives. No one is exempt from it. Money is an important part of life. And Scripture has a lot to say about it.

Now, Jesus basically says in Matthew, we can read where He says that we don’t need to be anxious about monetary necessities of life. We don’t need to. And He says that we don’t need to because we believe in God, and He already knows about these things. Jesus points out that those who do not believe in God, they worry about those things. Constantly worrying about them, constantly being anxious about them, but we need not do that. Those who believe in God, trust in Him, He says, “You don’t need to do that.” He says, instead of worrying about these monetary necessities of life, “seek,” there’s that word, “seek first the kingdom of God,” meaning the purposes of God. Seek first the purposes of God and His righteousness. In other words, how we are to live righteously, because that is His call for all of us, to live righteously. So “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” And Jesus says, “All these other things, they’ll be added to you.” God’s going to give those to you. He already knows what we need.

Now listen, a Lamborghini, right? John Stevens, Lamborghini. I remember seeing a picture. Pam showed me because Pam works at Piney Grove. And that wedding, they not only had a Lamborghini, they had a Ford Mustang GT500. If anybody knows cars, that’s a big deal. My son’s not here to back me up here, but probably watching a live stream, GT500. And the other one was a Corvette. I think it was maybe a C, what’s the C6? Robert, you would know. What’s the Z06? Two of them? Anyway, it was a Corvette. One of the new ones, the mid-engine, very exotic looking. All three of those cars were sitting on John’s ranch. And it was quite striking to see those. My point is, that’s not the monetary necessities that I’m talking about.

You know that. But in Jesus, in this passage, He talks about worrying about food and drink and clothing. At that time, those were the necessities. Now, I think you can include in this necessities with where we live now, a car. I think it is. I know you don’t have to have a car, okay, but really it’s very hard to get by without a vehicle. It can be done. But I don’t think God’s so stingy that He would not include also what you might need to get from here to there, to get to work and back and that kind of thing. So these things we don’t need to be anxious about because Jesus says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His purposes and His righteousness,” all this other stuff. God’s going to add that to you. He’s going to give it to you. He already knows what you need. Therefore, you don’t need to waste any time worrying about them. So that’s one thing to consider concerning money.

But how about this one in Proverbs 3:9? It says this, “Honor the Lord with your wealth.” And listen, that includes all of us. We here in America, everyone sitting in this room is wealthy. We’re not Elon Musk wealthy, but there’s only one who’s that wealthy. But we are all wealthy, okay? And if you’ve traveled much, you understand that. But it says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with your money, with the things you have, and with the first fruits of all your produce. Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” It says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth.” So honor the Lord with your money, with the income that you have, and the things that you produce. Honor Him by giving Him the first fruits. The first fruits is simply the first of the harvest, the first of your income. To give that back to Him, to honor Him with that.

Now this is, hear me on this, this is not a law. This is not a law for us. We are to be cheerful givers, those in the New Covenant. We are to give generously. This is not a law, but this is a very wise principle that we should pay attention to because this is actually a truth about God’s economy. And if you want to know a good place to invest, God’s economy is a very good, stable, with a huge return of investment place to invest your money. So I would encourage you guys to consider, if you don’t do this already, consider it. When payday comes, instead of giving to God out of what’s left over after paying your bills, make your giving to God the first fruits. Give Him first. Give to Him first. And then see what happens.

Now this is hard, but that’s why we’re talking about this. This is a very practical, real matter that you deal with every month or perhaps bi-weekly if you get paid bi-weekly or however your money comes. If you’re self-employed, it just comes in all kinds of random ways. But this is a very good litmus test of your faith. Where does your faith, where is your faith? Where is your trust in God? Because God’s economy is not like ours. But the way we handle our money says a lot about our faith in God. So that’s something for us to consider.

Paul told the Corinthian believers in 2 Corinthians 9:6, he says this, “Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” Listen, I know a lot of you, we have a lot of very generous people in this church body, so this is not necessarily for you, but we all should be remembering and thinking on this topic of money and not worrying about the things we need because God’s going to provide those, but also thinking about giving back to God our first fruits, because that’s a way of honoring Him and acknowledging that I know where all of this comes from. It comes from Him. Therefore, the first thing I want to do is honor Him with that.

Look, I work with a lot of budgets. I’m a kind of a budgety kind of a guy, and so sometimes, you know, not only my own but helping other people. So like that, put, put the giving category, consider doing this, put the giving category top on the list when you’re, when you’re distributing your funds that come in, whether it’s on a paycheck or if it’s just coming in because you have a business of your own. Consider that giving category being high on the list. That’s what it means to be the first fruits. I’m not looking at my bills. I’m not looking at everything I owe for the month. I’m giving back to God my first fruits because all of this comes from Him anyway, and I’m going to honor Him in that way.

So that’s just a challenge for you again. This is, that’s not a law, but that’s a principle in God’s economy that you might want to be aware of. Listen to what Paul says here. Excuse me, listen to what God says. This is in Malachi chapter 3, verse 10. He is actually bringing correction to the people of God for the ways that they have basically turned away from His ways, and this is one of them, dealing with money. In Malachi 3:10, He is bringing correction to them about how they’ve been neglectful in giving back to Him.

He says this, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in My temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, listen to this, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in.” “Try it,” He says. “Put Me to the test.” This is God. No one is speaking. This is God saying this, “Try Me. Try Me. Put Me to the test.” Test His economy. Test His math. Try Him.

And so listen, I know that, again, like I said earlier, sometimes we want to be careful that we’re not doing things for the wrong reasons. But listen to Him. He’s not excusing Himself. He’s like, “Try Me. Bring what I have asked into the storehouses. Bring Me your first fruits.” So generously and watch what happens.

Now, of course, there’s a lot of bad teaching about this out there. A lot. In what we refer to often as the prosperity gospel, it has gotten way off track with these promises of God. But the promises are real and true, and they exist, and we need to be familiar with them because they can impact us in regards to our money and the things that we need in this life. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And part of His rewards are monetary things. He blesses us with more crops than we can store in a barn, more wine than we can put in our vats. I wish there were more modern examples, but it’s applicable to the things that we need and the businesses that we run and the work that we do today. God’s saying, “Test Me. Test Me.” So it’s a good way to not only test Him but to test your own faith.

I had a grandfather. His name was Grover Cannon. My name is David Grover Cannon. My granddaughter’s name is Knightley Grove. Grove, short for Grover Cannon. That’s Wesley Moriah’s baby. But my grandfather Grover Cannon had a great, he has a great testimony, and I’ve inherited through my father as well a legacy of faith. My grandfather, he would read Scripture and take it for face value. I love that. He would just take it for face value. God said it, then that’s truth.

And back in the day when he was establishing his business and getting things going, he had, he ended up with six kids. I think at that time he might have had like five kids. But he was trying to get a business off the ground, and he believed God’s Word. And he said, “Right, I’m going to trust God in this, and I need to make about, and would like to be making about, $100,000, so I’m going to give to God $1,000 a month.” And he didn’t have it. He did not have it. But he had the faith in God, in His economy, simple enough, that he began sowing bountifully, generously into God’s kingdom, believing if God says it, it’s truth. And he has an incredible story of how God took that business that he was starting and basically became one of the biggest businesses of this particular industry in the Southeast and ended up selling it to a much larger company who acquired it from him. But his faith was in God and God’s principles and God’s math. And God never let him down on that. So God says, “Test Me.”

Well, I must move on. I’ve got to land this. The last thing… I tell you what, I’m going to… I’ve got two more parts, and they’re going to be the second part, because I don’t have time to cover them, and I want to cover them. So next time I’m up, I’m going to cover these next two parts. So I’ll hold those for now.

Let what we talked about this morning about faith is believing in God, and faith is not only believing Him and seeking Him to know Him and to understand Him, but faith is trusting in Him and trusting in His promises. So in the things that we talked about, think about, okay, how is that with me? I have to do this when I’m preparing a message. It’s hard because it’s like putting a mirror up to God’s Word. It can be painful. You see all kind of flaws that you then have to do something about. So look into God’s Word and His truth and allow it to help you see anything that might be lacking with what we say we have, which is faith. God wants us to live by faith. It is by faith that we are made righteous to begin with, and it is by faith that we continue to live for Him.

And so this is actually an exciting way to live life while we are here, apart from the Lord, while we are in these bodies. It’s exciting because we get the opportunity to live by faith. We get the opportunity to actually carry out some of these promises that God has given to us while we were here and prove them.

But not only that, but we get to take especially the part about the words of God out to those who maybe have not heard yet, and they cannot have faith because they have not heard. And we have the opportunity to actually go and speak words that will bring life, words that will bring faith. And that’s part of why we’re apart from the Lord and we’re here. We are living by faith. We’re telling others about Him. We’re sharing this message about the Lord Jesus Christ and why it’s good news. And we’re not worrying about the things that we need because God already knows, and He will provide them. And it’s giving generously for the purposes of God. Giving generously, sowing generously into His kingdom and His kingdom work, and then watching His principles of then reaping bountifully as well.

And when we have a mindset of living by faith, we don’t get wrapped up into the things of the world. You know, our money doesn’t control us. No, we allow it to be a blessing for God’s work, for us and our families and raising up our children and living here, but also sowing into God’s kingdom generously. That’s an opportunity that we have when we live by faith. So I get excited about this, and we’ll look at the other two parts next time.

But let me pray for us. Father, we do thank You for the opportunity to look into Your truth about faith and what faith is. And God, we thank You that You are a God who wants us to believe in You, and You’ve made a way for us to do that. You’ve given us Your words so that we may hear them and believe. And especially when we can believe in the one You sent, Jesus Christ, and believe in the good news about Him. Because it brings faith. And it’s through faith that we receive Your grace. It’s through faith that salvation comes to us because of the gift of Your Son. So God, thank You, and thank You that we know You are trustworthy in all things, all things, not just money, but in all things, when You, when You lead us and guide us, You are trustworthy in those things. We can lean into You, trusting You.

Thank You that You are a God. You’re a God who is trustworthy. Help us, Lord, to put our trust in You.

And Father, I pray a blessing over everyone this morning, that whatever You’ve been speaking to their hearts, Lord, I ask that You would encourage them, that this would be an encouragement to them to take that, to take what You’re speaking to them and to let it change them, to allow it to be applied into our lives. Lord, the things that I have heard and seen in preparing for this, may it produce fruit in me. And so God, I love You and I thank You for this opportunity.

In Jesus’ name, amen.