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ENGLISH
PAGE - The Messages
- OUR
FAITH IS IN GOD NOT IN FAITH.
- Suppose
one morning you get up, look out out through the window and see the
mountain¡¦good idea to remove it. So you say ¡°I am going to take my stand
and claim this and by faith it is done.¡± It is what Jesus means? Many of
Christian people think like this that we can remove the mountain by faith.
But what is Jesus means is ¡°mountain¡± in our life. It¡¯s important to
find out what the bible say and beware of bringing contemporary trends into
our spiritual thinking, our Christian thinking and even in our missionary
thinking.
- We
need to learn what is the FAITH.
- ¡¡
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- 1.
FAITH
MUST BE SEEN IN COSTLY OBEDIENCE
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The bible
always links faith and obedience. In Hebrew 11, everything that is
said about faith indicates there was also action. Isaac, Jacob, Moses and
all the others were acting in obedience. Abraham himself is quoted as an
example of faith (Genesis 12:1-4). Abraham
doesn't know where he
wants to go but by faith, he just follows what God has spoke to him. In
Hebrew 11:8 says Abraham ¡°went even though he did not know where he was
going.¡± God not gives Abraham a detail where he going-it is faith.
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God never put a
blueprint for five or ten years into our hands and says, ¡°this is what
will happen all through the next ten years.¡± If God did it, it would be
easy to obey God. Instead He says ¡°take this step and as you take it you
will know what the next step is.¡± We live moment by moment, one step at a
time. Maybe God calls us to be a missionary but we excuse to God and say,
¡°I¡¯m sorry Lord, I want to enjoy my life first. Maybe I will obey You
next time but not for this time.¡± If you are disobedient about the first
step, next step will not be revealed. As we take one step, God wills shows
the next step.
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In Acts
22:14 & 15 says ¡°The God of our Father¡¦ Isn¡¯t that
amazing? God never said to Paul ¡°you will be a great missionary to the
gentiles¡± or ¡°you go to the remote areas where the gospel has never
gone.¡± All that came later. But at this point God only told him ¡°I am
calling you so that you will see the face of the righteous one (that is
Christ) hear His voice and know His will.¡±
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So God call us
to Himself to commit ourselves to Him and to His purpose. He doesn't tell
us everything or give us a blueprint. It¡¯s takes faith to say ¡°Lord I¡¯ll
go where You want me to go, I will be what You want me to be, I¡¯ll do what
You want me to do, whatever the cost.¡± It¡¯s takes faith to accept the
closed doors in God¡¯s will to enter the door that He opens, to walk one
step at a time. It¡¯s takes faith to walk with God step by step and to obey
Him. This is costly obedience.
- ¡¡
- 2.
GOD
IS REFLECTED IN OUR LIFESTYLE.
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After Abraham
had left his own home country and was moving toward Canaan (Genesis 12:8).
There is two things characterize of Abraham¡¯s lifestyle. The tent and the
altar are lifestyle of faith of Abraham.
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The altar is
the place where you worship God and commune with Him, where Abraham laid his
life completely in the hands of God. Later it became a very costly altar on
which he had to place his own son, the son when God has promised. Sometimes
we apply faith only to finance, or to miraculous, but that is only one very
small part of it. The faith we read about in scripture covers the entire
life. You may be able to accomplish great things by faith but what about our
regular day to day lifestyle? Is faith reflected there? Is there any altar?
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The tent speaks
about a mobile life available to God, flexible, and ready to move and ready
to bend. This is needed today in mission. Some doors may seem closed, but
there are no 100% tightly closed doors. The tent is our symbol of moving
where He would want us to move of being flexible in His hands and obeying of
being available for Him all the time. If you are willing to do so, a deep
assurance comes to you through His word and His Spirit. You begin to walk
though still not all your questions are answered. But as you keeps walking,
you will know why he lead you this way. When you have evidence for God to
expect you to act, the last step involves a leap. You have to leap by faith.
When the evidence has been given, don¡¯t keep on waiting. Take that leap of
faith and as you do so God will hold you.
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This lifestyle
of faith also affects our values. When Abraham was choosing a place to
settle, he said to his nephew Lot, ¡°You choose first, then I¡¯ll take.¡±
Genesis 13:10 says ¡°Lot¡¯s looked up and saw that the whole plain
of the Jordan was well watered.¡± It would be food for his cattle. He acted
purely by what he saw. But Abraham was content to choose what Lot had left.
Then God come to Abraham and said, ¡°I am your reward.¡±
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In the matter
of our choices, how is our faith acting? Do we choose on the basis of what
immediately attracts? It seems to us that we are in danger of becoming
sentual Christian, Christian who are guided more by our senses than by
faith. People choose what appear to the immediately, what seems logical and
attractive to them. I¡¯m not saying that God will lead us to do anything
illogical or irrational but at times we may have to take that leap of faith.
Only afterward will we find why what seemed irrational was actually the most
logical thing to do. By faith we have to see what others do not see if we
are to make the right choices.
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- 3.
FAITH
IS SEEN IN SUFFERING
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In
Hebrew 11 we read the list of the heroes of faith but we also find
another list. Hebrew 11:36-37. These people were not delivered from
suffering! If they had faith, why were they flogged? Why did God not save
them? If they had faith, why were they chained and put in prison? Why were
they stoned? Why were they sawed in two? Why were they put to death by the
sword? These days we are told that when we have faith we can have miraculous
deliverance, instanteously. We can have a safe, healthy and prosperous life.
Such a teaching has no place for the cross, for the suffering and for pain.
So it is not true to the New Testament. In the New Testament we do find
healing, miraculous and deliverance. Faith can do that. Faith can also make
you go through suffering. Suffering is what we see in Paul life (1
Corinthians 4:9-11). Why should Paul go through all this ¡°hungry¡¦¡±
why? He doesn't believe God to give food? Paul also had financial
problems. Paul, did he doesn't have faith to believe God to give him
money? What should our faith be then? When I have money, I will serve the
Lord. When I don¡¯t have money I¡¯ll still serve the Lord because it is
with my obedience and my consecrated life that I serve the Lord not with
money.
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Paul was
sometimes hungry, sometimes empty and sometimes in great need. In missions
there is a real place for suffering. Sometimes it¡¯s looks as though God is
nowhere. Then by faith we must believe He is still in control, He loves us,
He has calls us and He has purpose for us. And we need to stay on.
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It brings glory to God when we walk by
faith and serve by faith, showing not just what we are by ourselves, but
what we can be with the grace and power of God. The world want to see that
and God will be glorified by it. Amen
<by:
Bro
James>
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