Great Faith!

[Music] because of the lord's great faithfulness the son came up this morning and woke us up and we are here to worship him in spirit and truth isn't that doesn't that put a smile on your face that we are here this morning to worship the lord yes wonderful amen it is so good to be in the lord's house this morning guests we want to thank you for coming and joining us this morning uh our ushers are located here at the ends of the aisle and they've got a gift bag for you and so we'd kindly ask you to raise your hand so we could get that gift bag to you and please fill out the visitors card in there so we can get to know you a little bit better maybe give you a phone call later on in the week thank you so much ushers and guests for joining us this morning uh church let's open up our bulletins and look at our ministry week how we can serve the lord this week our first opportunity to serve will be right after this worship service i would like to ask our men if you would help us our bereavement team and our social team uh set up the back of the sanctuary for um uh the tally family uh funeral uh this afternoon so immediately following the service we're gonna set up the back of the sanctuary for that meal and so please men uh help us out with that 6 30 this evening our new members uh orientation class will be continuing and is tonight the final final meeting and so be sure to uh uh join uh pastor corbin for that tonight ladies your bible study will continue tomorrow evening or tuesday morning so be there for that wednesday are normal activities our awana club youth and adult and college bible studies on wednesday night so be sure to join us this week for bible study i also want to remind you and congratulate our newly elected deacons bud henderson and ken jones we want to thank you for serving our church and being that leadership role and so in that next sunday at five o'clock deacons we have an ordination council and then at 6 30 next sunday night we will be ordaining brother bud henderson so church please join us for that next week on this labor day weekend i thought it would be a good reminder to read from ephesians for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god not of works lest anyone should boast will you join me as i pray heavenly father we thank you that you have given us this day to worship lifting our voices to honor you in song in prayer and in preaching father we remember this labor day weekend not for our work but for christ's work on our behalf that our salvation through jesus is a great gift of grace from you lord we do not boast in and of ourselves but we boast in the lord jesus by our worship and by our work lord may we strive to make jesus known it's in jesus powerful name that we pray amen good morning let's stand together let's sing about the promises found in god's word and the blessed assurance that we have found in our lord and savior jesus christ let's sing blessed jesus [Music] [Music] is is [Music] [Music] it goes this is my story this is my soul [Music] praising my savior all the day love this is my story this is my song [Music] perfect submission all is at rest i am my savior i am happy and blessed watching [Music] lost in his love this is my story this is my soul praising my savior this is my story this is my song praising my jingle [Music] this is my story this is my song praising my savior [Music] this is my story this is my song praising my jacket [Music] praising my savior [Music] i hope that's what you woke up this morning excited to do to be able to praise your savior all the day long and that means no matter what happens in our life no matter what happens during the day we should always remain focused on christ and what he has done for us and that should allow us to help cast aside those burdens sometimes that we like to pick up and carry with us every day and we should walk away and sing this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long and i hope that's your prayer in matthew um chapter 21 and paralleled in mark um chapter 11 so i'm not sure when we'll get to matthew 21 at some point in february of 2029 or somewhere in there i'm sure uh but if you wanted to read ahead and get to mark you go to mark chapter 11 and in there you hear a lesson of the withered fig tree but toward the end of that lesson in verse 22 christ is talking to the disciples and he very simply says in verse 22 he answered them have faith in god for assuredly i say to you whoever says to this mountain be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done he will have whatever he says that is not an entryway to prosperity gospel by the way therefore i say to you whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you receive them and you will have them and that is according to christ and his will for us so this morning i want to encourage you to have faith in god though the pathway may seem dim may seem dark there may not see a light at the tunnel or some may think that light at the tunnel is a train coming at you i'm not sure but have faith in god let's sing about that this morning happy thank god when your pathway is lonely [Music] have faith in god have faith in god have faith in god he's on his throne have faith in god he watches for his own he cannot fail he must prevent happiness [Music] lord is his word and be patient hath faith in god he'll answer yet have faith in god he's on his throne have faith in god he watches or his own he cannot fail he must prevail have faith have faith [Music] shall perish he rules and reigns upon his fall happy god he's on his throne have faith in god he watches all his [Music] god [Music] is [Music] wilderness [Music] every blessing [Music] let it be the name of the lord [Music] blessed be your glory [Music] should be [Music] blessing [Music] [Music] closes in lord still i will say the name of the him in the lord of the lord [Music] [Music] blessed be your glory [Music] you give and take away lord blessings [Music] my heart will choose [Music] [Music] blessed be the name of the lord blessed be your glorious [Music] amen let's sing that together blessed be the name of the lord bless it be your name bless it be the name [Music] blessed assurance is found in him and blessed be his name amen you may be seated i also welcome the house of the lord so good to see you here today if you have your bulletins please look at the back page and we'll look at our prayer list today we've got a very busy prayer list today aren't you glad we got an awesome god that can handle all this and that's why we pray a prayer verse today comes from psalm 145 the lord is near to all who call upon him to all who call upon him in truth he will fulfill the desire of those who fear him he also will hear their cry and save them and that's why we pray start off today with some praises we've got a couple of tom johnson's on the prayer list today so this is the tom johnston from hall county and uh he's doing well he was in the hospital week four last and then he got released and so we praise the lord for that also we do praise the lord for our new deacons uh ken jones and bud henderson uh we continue to pray for hoosier one we got some reports this past week of people who've been praying and witnessing to folks and their one has come to faith in jesus christ and we rejoice in that and i encourage you to continue to do the same in our church family pray for all these folks you see listed there daphne britt has had a tough bout with covid but she's home and doing well improving brad earnest is still in the hospital but the report is he's improving and may be able to go home early this next week so we praise the lord for that as well uh second line you see christy love she's having to deal both parents or trying to get those and assisted living at the same time both of them have some pretty serious health issues so we pray for uh christie love and her family uh norma maserlian that's lois reed's sister you see leroy and lois on there as well uh coveted she was in the hospital this past week was able to come home but i understand they took her back to the hospital this morning so be in prayer for norma also ann wales will be having some neck surgery this coming tuesday so be in prayer for her continue to pray for those who are expecting children under extended family and friends we got the second tom johnson there on the second line this is the lumpkin county tom johnson he had emergency intestinal surgery this past week and is not doing well at all and his wife donna has asked us to remember him in prayer next line demoris mcgee that's linda decker's sister as covid also complicated with pneumonia and we understand she may even have sepsis now so really serious condition so be in prayer for her under long-term care you see the ones we have underlined uh the fifth line down you see maddie jane but in front of her is betty stanford and that is amy rodriguez's uh mother and she was put back in the hospital so be in prayer for her maddie jane one of our senior saints here one of the original members of this church passed away this past week the flowers here on the communion table are in memory of her today her service will be here because of the holiday weekend the burial is happening right now with a former pastor here tony smith officiating there this afternoon beginning at two o'clock we'll be having visitation here at the church for miss maddie jane and the memorial service will be here at three o'clock and then at 4 30 the church will be providing a meal and that's why matt asked if we have some guys to help prepare the back of the sanctuary for that meal to take place after that memorial service this afternoon so continue to remember the tally family in your prayers we want to remember our missionaries who are serving around the world today the international mission board has asked us to remember the tahami yumeni people group in yemen and a very difficult place to try to share the gospel because they're all coached from the time that they're babies that they are born muslims and they must die muslims so pray for missionaries who are trying to break through that in order to share the gospel of jesus christ and the hope that we have in him also another family that's grieving as a charles van buren family that's the brother-in-law of linda stafford his funeral was this past week in brunswick we continue to pray for revival in our nation as we go the lord in prayer father we thank you for this day that you have blessed us with a day when we can come and worship you and bless your holy name as we've already begun doing lord we pray to bless us today as we come to seek you and call upon your name in truth for you have promised that you will fulfill the desires of all of those who fear you and we do we fear you and we love you we thank you lord for giving us the opportunity to pray and know that you hear and that you answer our prayers and we have so much going on today but lord we know that you can take care of everything that we've got on our heart everything on our list and also for the people under the sound of my voice the things that's going on in their life as well lord i pray now that you bless us as we continue to worship you we pray this in jesus name amen [Music] the moon and stars they wept the morning sun was dead the savior of the world was [Music] his body on the cross his blood poured out for us the weight of every curse upon him [Music] one final breath he gave [Music] the war on death was waged the power of help forever broken his perfect love could not be overcome [Music] forever is [Music] is [Music] is alive [Music] we sing hallelujah we sing hallelujah we sing hallelujah the lamb is overcome [Music] we sing hallelujah we sing hallelujah we sing hallelujah the lamb is overcome we sing hallelujah we sing [Music] sing hallelujah the lamb is overcome we sing hallelujah we sing hallelujah [Music] is [Music] he is alive forever [Music] is [Music] [Music] all right thank you amy and leah and for all the more family playing the piano and also playing the drums and uh leading us in the worship of our lord jesus christ who is the object of our faith and that's what we're going to be talking about today is the great faith that jesus illustrates for us here in this uh message from matthew chapter 8 if you'll turn to matthew chapter 8. we've finally finished the sermon on the mount again it took jesus about 20 minutes to preach that sermon and took me about 20 weeks i'm a little slower than him matthew chapter 8 beginning in verse 1 and when he that is jesus had come down from the mountain great multitudes followed him and behold a leper came and worshiped him saying lord if you're willing you can make me clean then jesus put out his hand and touched him saying i am willing be cleansed and immediately his leprosy was cleansed and jesus said to him see that you tell no one but go your way and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that moses commanded as a testimony to them now when jesus had entered capernaum a centurion came to him pleading with him saying lord my servant is lying at home paralyzed dreadfully tormented and jesus said to him i will come and heal him the centurion answered and said lord i am not worthy that you should come under my roof but only speak a word and my servant will be healed for i am a man under authority having soldiers under me and i say to this one go and he goes into another one come and he comes into my servant do this and he does it when jesus heard it he marveled and said to those who followed assuredly i say to you i have not found such great faith if you underline things in your bible underline that that's my title for my message not even in israel i say to you that many will come from east and west and sit down with abraham isaac and jacob in the kingdom of heaven but the sons of the kingdom will be cast into outer darkness and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth then jesus said to centurion go your way as you have believed so let it be done for you and his servant was healed that same hour may the lord add his blessing to the reading of his word as we continue our study of the gospel of matthew jesus again has just finished preaching his great sermon on the mount he continues now with his healing ministry by healing this man who was infected with leprosy and jesus heals him and tells him to be quiet about it says see that you tell no one and go your way show yourself to the priests and offer the gift that moses commanded as a testimony to them the same story in mark chapter 1 says the healed leper went out and began to proclaim it freely and spread the matter in other words he didn't do what jesus said he didn't say keep it to yourself he went out and told everybody the same story in luke chapter 7 says one of the folks who heard that was a certain roman centurion he heard that there was a man named jesus who had the power to heal sicknesses and he had a servant who was dear to him who was very sick and ready to die back to matthew chapter 8 and verse 5 we see this centurion after he's made the connection he finally uh gets to see jesus here and he approaches him and jesus used the story of healing of this centurion servant as an illustration of what it means to have faith in god in verse 10 jesus calls it great faith well the question is we begin to study this is why is faith so important faith is so important because you can't be saved without faith ephesians 2 8 for by grace have you been saved through faith yeah we have the gift of god given to us that's grace but it's by faith that we reach and open that gift also you can't please god without faith hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 without faith it is impossible to please god for he who comes to god must believe that he is that god literally exists and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him also you can't live a victorious life over sin death and the devil without faith we're told in first john 5 4 this is the victory that overcomes the world what is it our faith you also can't have eternal life without faith romans 1 17 the just shall live by faith galatians chapter 2 and verse 20. i have been crucified with christ so it's no longer i who live but christ who lives within me and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me so if you plan to know god if you plan to have a relationship with god if you plan to spend eternity with god by the way how many of you how many you're all planning on spending okay then you must have faith that's what the bible tells us verse 10 jesus said this centurion had great faith he said this centurion had greater faith than jesus had seen so far in all israel which was saying something because israel was supposed to be the chosen people of god they were supposed to be a nation of faith israel was extremely religious but jesus said he didn't find much faith there jesus looked at the priest in the pharisees and in matthew 5 20 he said unless your faith exceeds the faith of these guys you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven even among his own disciples in luke chapter 17 verse 5 the disciples said to the lord increase our faith and listen to what jesus says to them he said if you had faith the size of a mustard seed how big is mustard seed about the size of a period at the end of your sentence a very small thing he said if you had that much faith you'd be able to say to that mulberry tree be pulled up by the roots and planted in the sea and it would obey you what was jesus saying say y'all don't have any faith you're saying increase our faith i need to give you some before it gets increased well what was so great about this centurion's faith well for one thing this faith was found in a very unlikely person most jews didn't think any gentile could have faith to start with much less a roman soldier even less a roman centurion a roman centurion was a commander of a hundred roman soldiers he was the best of the best he was the toughest of the tough he was a modern-day equivalent of special forces centurions were not known for being religious they were also not known for lacking jews they were not known for being kind to their servants and also not known for asking they usually told people what to do but this centurion was different he was unusually kind for a centurion still what was so great about his faith was it because jesus healed his servant you know i've run into that a lot of times i hear people say they see somebody who's received some kind of miracle and they say boy that person must really have a lot of faith but you know jesus said lots of people are healed on a daily basis with no faith think about that all across this land people are getting sick with covet and a lot of people guess what are getting well and they don't know who the lord is they don't have any faith in him they have faith in their doctor maybe they have faith in the treatment maybe but they don't have faith in the lord but luke 6 35 says god is kind to the unfaithful and to the evil matthew 5 45 god sends his reign on the just and the unjust so just because you get your miracle doesn't mean that you have tremendous faith notice verse 10 jesus said great faith before he had ever healed the centurion servant so faith is not measured by the number of miracles that a person receives in hebrews chapter 11 that's the hall of fame of faith chapter and you do see many faithful people who did experience miracles but there are many faithful people who never received a miracle hebrews 11 lists many of our hebrew heroes of faith who through faith subdued kingdoms worked righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of lines i wonder who that was maybe daniel quench the violence of fire shadrach meshach and abednego escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness they were made strong but then it goes on and say but there were other faithful people who were tortured not except in deliverance they might obtain a better resurrection still others had trials of mockings and scourgings yes many had chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were sown in two that was probably isaiah there were tempted they were slain with a sword they wandered about in sheepskins and goat skins being destitute afflicted and tormented because they had to be off of the grid because of their faith of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts and mountains they lived in dens and caves of the earth and all of these having obtained a good testimony through faith they were faithful but they never did get that miracle that we think is what's so necessary as part of faith see faith is not measured in miracles but by trusting and obeying god regardless of whether the miracle happens or not in daniel chapter 3 we do get the story of shadrach meshach and abednego about to be thrown into the fiery furnace and the king's trying to be reasonable he said look dude all you got to do is look toward this statue i've made of myself that's 90 feet tall which is the size of my ego all you have to do is look at that statue there and bow down before it and you know in worship and then get back up and go your way and everything will be fine but if you don't i'm going to throw you in the fiery furnace which we've already pumped it up to seven times it's normal heat so you got a choice there and if you remember shadrach meshach and abednego said oh nebuchadnezzar we have no need to answer you in this matter if that this is our case our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from this burning fiery furnace and we believe he will deliver us from your hand o king but if not even if i don't give him a miracle but if not let it be known to you o king that we will not serve your guards nor will we worship this gold image which you have set out in the plain of doer there we are not going to do that so see biblical faith seems to to believe trust and obey god regardless a person of great faith is somebody who believes trusts and obeys god and that's what jesus saw in this centurion and that's why jesus said this centurion had great faith so let's take those one at a time those three items believe trust and obey god so great faith is believing faith look at verse 13 again as you have believed so let it be done for you in this same story in luke chapter 7 and verse 3 the bible does not say when the centurion saw jesus it says when the centurion heard about jesus and seen him in the flesh now when we get to matthew here he's actually having a conversation with him but before that happened he just heard about jesus and what he was doing so he believed in him then romans 10 17 says what faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god so that's where this faith originates hebrews 11 1 faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen i'm sure you probably heard well seeing is believing but that's not the way it is with biblical faith believing means your biblical faith means that you're believing in someone you can't see which is the invisible spiritual god that you and i serve and that's what separated this guy's great faith from most people's no faith is most jewish people wanted signs they wanted wonders they wanted miracles just read through the gospel sometimes and see how many times the jewish people they basically came to see jesus to see if he would do something to see if he would do a miracle to see if he'd put on the magic show that's what they came for they didn't come to hear his word they didn't come to believe in him they came i don't know maybe they didn't have much on tv back in those days so they went out to see if they could get a miracle see some kind of show going on out there something they could see something they could feel something they could touch but luke chapter 11 verse 29 jesus said this is an evil generation for it seeks a sign but no sign will be given to it except the sign of jonah the prophet and what was the sign of jonah the prophet is jesus was going to die and rise again on the third day just like jonah did from the great fish so he said that's the only kind of miracle i'm going to give this bunch anyhow jesus did dozens of miracles still they didn't believe in him if you remember his own disciple known as doubting thomas we pick on thomas but we're a lot like him but he's called doubting thomas in john chapter 20 it says the other disciples some of them had seen jesus some of them had not the other disciples said to him we have seen the lord but thomas said unless i see his hands the print of the nails and put my fingers into the print of the nails and put my hand into his side i will not believe it says after eight days his disciples were again inside that means they were locked inside with the doors locked and chairs up against the doors because they were afraid the romans were coming to get them thomas was with them and jesus came the doors were being shut stood in the midst how did he pull that off well anyhow jesus doesn't open the door he just comes down and stands in the midst of folks and just to let good old thomas know that he is omniscient that he is a god who knows everything he says thomas reach your fingers here and look at my hands it's almost like jesus had heard what he said before also he said now also take a look at my side here reach reach your hand in there and roll it around inside my side do not be unbelieving but believing and then thomas of course answered said my lord and my god that's the only case that i know of where it's okay to say omg oh my god it's because he was in fact standing in front of god jesus was appearing before him and showing him that he was very much alive and jesus said to him thomas because you have seen me you have believed blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe because why faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god second corinthians 5 7 we walk by faith and not by sight that's why jesus said this centurion had great faith this centurion had only heard of jesus had not seen him until he comes up here in this part of matthew and he wasn't near him when he first heard about this he believed that jesus was the son of god the almighty the all-seeing the ever-present god but when he did see jesus he called him lord just say the word and my servant will be healed there's faith compare that to jesus disciples remember when they were out on the storm at sea in luke chapter 8 it describes what happened says the disciples came to jesus and woke him up saying master master we're perishing he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and they ceased and there was calm but jesus said to them where is your faith and they were afraid marveled saying to one another who can this be for he commands the winds and the water and they obey him do you hear what the disciples were saying who can this be but in verse six and verse eight we got this centurion who hadn't been walking with jesus all they've done is heard what jesus was up to in the world and he walks up to him and calls him lord what's the difference who can this be these guys who walk with him every day still haven't figured it out and here you've got a roman centurion that's already believing that he is lord that he is god so great faith begins with believing faith secondly great faith begins with trusting faith you ever heard the old faith acronym f-a-i-t-h forsaking all what i trust him if you're not used to that one write that one down forsaking all i trust him f-a-i-t-h trust on the part of the centurion is subtle it doesn't really jump at you but you do see it in verse six when this roman centurion called jesus lord jewish leaders even jesus disciples didn't call him lord they called him rabbi they called him teacher they called him master but this centurion calls him lord for a roman citizen to call anybody lord except caesar was risky business it meant that this centurion was trusting jesus so much that he was willing to put it all on the line his job his career his reputation even if his life if word got back to his roman superiors that he was out here calling this galilean named jesus christ naming him lord he would have been in deep trouble but he put his faith and trust in this god of israel and that's what faith is believing that jesus is who he claimed to be the son of god also trusting that jesus will keep his promises to meet my needs both in now and also in the forever all the way to the end so not only is great faith believing and trusting number three great faith is obedient faith and the first step in obedience is humility realizing that there is a god and it's not you realize there is a lord and i'm his servant you see the jewish people they had a problem with this they arrogantly thought that they were keeping the law and that they were so good that god owed them answers to their prayers god owed them entrance into the kingdom of heaven listen to one of their prayers this is a pharisee praying in luke 18. he stood and prayed thus within himself god i thank you that i'm not like other men i'm not an extortioner or unjust or adulterer or even like this worthless tax collector over here i fast twice a week i give tithes of all i possess begin to lay out all the wonderful things that he'd done for god so who who's becoming god here also notice how in luke chapter 7 the centurion's jewish friends they were asking jesus they these jewish friends who knew the centurion came to jesus before the centurion came and began to explain to jesus why he should heal this guy's servant and listen to what they say the jewish leader said this centurion deserves deserves deserves a miracle uh because of his good works he is worthy he has earned he is entitled to a miracle because he had given them a lot of money helped them build their synagogue or fix up their synagogue or put a new kitchen in the back or what anyhow he gave him a bunch of money and so they're trying to explain to jesus this guy here deserves a miracle but now notice in verse 8 how the centurion approaches jesus i am not worthy to have you come under my roof it's a little different attitude than those who came to jesus and said he deserves a miracle he's saying i don't deserve it it's going to be strictly grace whatever you do for me see he realized that if jesus was indeed lord if he was the son of god who he claimed to be then that makes him the king of kings and lord of lords so jesus is holy perfect sovereign god who owes nobody nothing if the lord chooses to heal his servant it will not be because he's entitled to it it will not be because of his works it's going to be all of grace a gracious gift not of debt nor of obligation verse 8 i'm not worthy that you should come under my roof and see that's humility that's remembering who is the boss how often do we forget who is the boss and we go to before god with our prayers almost like we're demanding things we're never in a position to demand anything from god so the first step in obedience is humility realizing that he is lord and i'm his servant and the second part of obedience is simply to obey to do what you're told doing what the lord tells him to do i know sometimes we look at faith as praying hard to get god to do things for us but actually biblical faith is asking god to empower us to do stuff for him isn't that a little backwards but that's the way we look at it sometimes if i pray hard enough then i'll get god to do something for me in luke chapter six jesus had just finished the sermon on the mount where he said why do you call me lord lord and do not do what i tell you to do this centurion had already chosen to believe in jesus and trust jesus and he also shows obedience in every area of his life look back and look at this interior in a minute verse nine speak the word i know what it means to be under authority he said i'm used to giving commands i'm used to telling people what to do and then jump up and do it and i'm asking the same from you authority simply means the right to rule this centurion is saying that jesus has the right to tell me what to do just say the word and i will do it just say the word and my servant will be healed just say the word and i'll go where you want me to go just say the word and i'll do what you tell me to do notice this centurion was already obeying god in his personal relationships jesus taught the golden rule that you're to love your fellow man we've already had the sermon on that this centurion was obeying god's commandment to love as it applies to servants and to employees it says here that he loved this employee that this servant was dear to him in luke chapter seven and verse two it says the servant was dear of course much different than normal roman attitude towards slaves realize according to roman law back then a slave was defined as a living tool he had no rights a master could treat him bad or even kill him if he chose to a roman writer on estate management recommended that farmers should inventory and examine their tools every year and throw away those which were old and broken it goes on to say and do the same thing with your slaves so obviously this centurion had a little different attitude toward his slave he actually loved his slave and wanted to see him made well this centurion was obeying god's command to love as it applies to race the prevailing attitude of romans toward jews was they called the jews a filthy race and they called judaism a barbarous substitution or a superstition but you know this roman centurion he loved the people of god he attended their synagogues he paid for their synagogues he loved the god of israel this centurion will also ban god's command to love as it applies to the stewardship of his money this centurion was generous and it built built a house of worship for the god of israel so what was so great about this centurion's faith he believed he trusted and he obeyed god you know sometimes we try to complicate faith but that's what it boils down to those three things are you going to believe are you going to trust or are you going to obey god and i thought right there would be a good time to stop and ask ourselves some faith questions so right now i want all of y'all to hook yourself up to this imaginary faith meter and see where we're pegging on this thing as you hook up your faith to this faith meter where are you at on the meter are you no faith are you mustard seed faith are you great faith where are you at as we go across here do you believe in jesus christ you're hoping that's a rhetorical question right anybody in here believe in jesus christ oh okay we're all right i felt like i was preaching on the radio there for a minute do you truly believe in jesus christ do you believe jesus christ is a heaven-sent son of god that he is a virgin born son of man do you believe that jesus christ is a god-man who lived a perfect life died of substitutionary death on the cross for our sins do you believe that jesus rose the third day after the cross and was victorious over sin death and hell do you believe he is currently seated at the right hand of god the father and he is making intercession for you and me when i prayed for you this morning you pray for me he's the one that actually carries those prayers all the way to god the father do you believe that jesus is coming soon to judge the world reward the righteous and punish the wicked do you believe in this jesus i'm not i'm i'm not asking you do you have thoughts in your head about him i'm asking do you have faith in your heart in your being that jesus's who claims to be second thing is do you trust in jesus christ do you trust jesus to be who he claims to be do you trust him to keep the promises that he's made to us to care for us to take care of us to provide for you not only in this life but eternal home in heaven once this life is over do you trust jesus christ so much that you're willing to stand up stand up for jesus even if you must stand along even if your peer group thinks you're nuts even if they think you're off the bar even if they think that what you do doesn't make much sense do you still keep your trust in him do you trust him so much that you'd willingly put your life on the line think about that for a minute that you'd be willing to die for your faith in jesus christ you realize there's people around the world today that are having to show that kind of faith there's folks in afghanistan behind the mess that we've left over there they're going to have some hard decisions to make do i'm going do i truly trust that jesus is who he claims to be you know in the last 20 years we've witnessed a lot of atrocities by radical islamic terrorists beheading people and it's barbaric it's horrific but you realize that once you are captured by them you really have no choice in the matter you're simply going to die but you know the apostle paul was beheaded and in those days do you realize he could have saved himself all he had to do was say jesus is not lord caesar is lord that's all he had to do and he could have walked but he had so much faith and trust in jesus christ that he said i know whom i have believed and i'm persuaded that he is able to keep what i've committed unto him against that day i have that much trust in jesus christ that i'm willing to die if that's what you're asking me to do rather than deny who he is so do you trust jesus that much do you trust that jesus can will and do what he said he will do next do you obey jesus when you read his word and his holy spirit is speaking to your heart and telling you that you need to move do you move are you i'm i'm not talking about moving out of house right now i'm just talking about moving out of the recliner if he put if he puts somebody on your heart that i really think you need to go and minister to this person can he trust you to let down that recliner and get up and go do that are you willing to do what the lord says thou shalt do are you willing to quit doing what the lord says thou shalt not do are you willing to go where he says go do what he says do whether it's being a missionary to afghanistan or a helper in vacation bible school whether it's singing a song or keeping the nursery i realize keeping the nursery is something but if the lord lays that on your heart are you willing to do that you're willing to be obedient whether it's visiting somebody on the prayer list or sharing your faith with some unbeliever that you know at work or at school or wherever you happen to be folks that's what great faith is it means to believe trust and obey god in the little things and in the big things you realize great faith begins with simple childlike faith this simple faith is spelled out in romans chapter 10 verse 9 that if you'll confess with your mouth the lord jesus and believe in your heart not your head but your heart and your total being he's who he claimed to be that he is in fact lord then you will be saved it says for with the heart one believes into righteousness and with the mouth confession is made in salvation so whoever calls upon the name of the lord shall be saved if you've never trusted jesus christ today why don't you make that first step that simple where you reach out and say lord jesus i ask you to come to my life forgive my sins and i want you to be my savior and i want you to be lord of my life if you've never prayed that prayer won't you do that today if you already prayed that then again connect yourself to the faith meter how are you doing are you moving toward great faith and again we tried to max that thing out somehow another it still boils down to am i going to believe trust and obey god with this life that he has graced me with let's go the lord in prayer father i thank you for your word thank you lord for these illustrations your commandments would have been enough just to tell us thou shalt and thou shalt not but i thank you lord in your word you included experiences of real people and their interacts interaction with our god and savior jesus christ that teaches us how this thing works lord i pray today as you look over this congregation that you would find us faithful believing trusting and obeying you and also persevering in that faith all the way to the end lord move among us we pray by the power of your holy spirit we pray this in jesus name amen now's our time of imitation our altar is open if you need to come and pray whatever the lord has on your heart if you have some burden bring it to the lord and leave it here we'll have praying people all across the building without knowing your business we'll be asking the lord to bless you as you do this prayer time with the lord here if you've never trusted jesus christ your savior and ever taken that first simple faith step won't you do that today i'll be standing down front i'd love to pray with you and show you from god's word how you can be saved may you've already prayed a prayer of faith you just hadn't made a public profession of faith in jesus christ by joining the church and being baptized well the lord requires that he doesn't need any secret service christians especially in this generation he needs people that are not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ so won't you join our church today maybe you've already been saved and baptized your church membership is somewhere else and you feel like the lord is leading you to join this church and find your place of service here i want you to join our church today maybe there's a call on your life that you hadn't said yes to the lord doesn't supply until you say yes remember believe trust and obey obey god you got to get rolling with that again the hour is late if you're going to trust and follow him you need to do it you need to do it while it's still called today listen to the voice of the holy spirit as we stand together and sing our hymn of invitation won't you come tis so sweet to trust in jesus just to take him at his word just to rest upon his promise just to know the sith the lord jesus jesus how i trust him how i proved him jesus jesus praises jesus oh for grace to trust him more oh how sweet to trust in jesus just to trust his cleansing blood just inseparable fate to plunge me beneath the healing jesus jesus how i trust him how i proved him or and or jesus jesus crashes jesus oh for grace to trust him more yes too sweet to trust in jesus just from sin and self to cease just in jesus [Music] and rest and joy and peace jesus jesus how i trust him how i proved [Music] jesus oh for grace to trust him jesus save your friend and i know that thou art with me will be with me to be in jesus jesus how i trust him how i proved him or and or jesus jesus christ jesus oh for grace who trust him more tis so sweet to trust in jesus just to take him at his word just to rest upon his promise just to know the sith the lord jesus jesus how i trust him how i improved [Music] ahead and close your eyes still have folks in the altar praying so continue to pray there it's not too late to respond to the invitation if the lord's speaking to your heart especially if you've never taken that first step of putting your faith and trust in him won't you respond now don't put it off none of us have a promise of tomorrow so take care of things while it's still called today [Music] thank you for being here today for your attention for your attendance again we're going to ask the guys if you will to try to help us sit up in the back to take care of the tally family this afternoon following their memorial service if you would help us with that uh miss brenda do you have anything we need i think everything is pretty well set okay we'll continue to pray for the tally family as we have a memorial service for miss maddie jane who is like i said one of the originals i was here when this church was first planted and she's meant so much to this church through the years so we're gonna have a celebration for her this afternoon only thing we need is about two or three dozen more miss maddie james uh to do all the things that she did that she served here at this church and and uh serve the lord through this church we praise god for that ask brother tim if he will dismiss us in prayer let us pray father i hope as a church we have that strong faith to believe in you that we trust you will obey you and continue on no matter what happens in this world that will continue to do service to you service to the world and service to others in great need to know your son jesus with that saving gracious faith and love father help us be the church that no matter what go forward and spread the gospel throughout this nation throughout the world and we ask it all in jesus name amen [Music]

Channel: Northlake Baptist Church

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Id: mQC8Gnf59R4

Length: 65min 19sec (3919 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021