Part 4: Pistis [WORDS] // Ty Gibson & Nathan McKee

well hello storyline wherever you happen to be in the world it's a privilege to study the word of God with people all over the planet who are interested in getting to know Jesus better so that we can serve him more intelligently and more passionately because you know that's really what it's about the reason we get into the word of God is in order to expand our comprehension of the goodness of God and when we understand the goodness of God we begin to experience a rise in our passion and enthusiasm we're in a seven part series on keywords of the New Testament and uh we're privileged to have Nathan McKee with us who apparently is not inclined to sit down hey Ty Nathan so we're gonna do this or yeah let's go let's go do you think maybe you should sit down or do you oh Ty listen don't don't worry about it I believe that the chair is there I've been inspecting it it's got a firm back and okay it's got supporting bars between the legs I mean it's solid okay I believe it seems to me that that my belief might be more solid than yours because I'm actually sitting in my chair but you're somehow reluctant hi just just relax okay it's I I accept I have sent to the fact that it's more likely than not that this chair is solid and reliable and in fact exists I mean it is there it does it does exist yeah that's a that's a given yeah I think I I mean it's a great chair I'm suspicious though about your actual Reliance if you use the word Reliance you you believe that most likely it would more likely than not yeah more likely than not um well well bro I think you should sit down if if you really believe in the chairs stability and I don't know okay I mean sure here we go all right oh okay all right it's there it didn't fall so long I'm so happy Ty let's do this yeah let's do this well everybody we're looking at a keyword in the New Testament and that word is pistus why is it that the word pistis is so significant and what is a general misconception of the word pistis Nathan well Ty we have this I I think a lot of times in general Christianity takes this defensive stance and um it's not a bad thing but um apologetics is really hot right now and we want to be able to explain our faith and improve it yeah you know here's the evidence and you know people will say okay you can't prove that God exists and then they go and try to do it um right and and so we have this thing where where our definition of faith I think when we say I believe something for instance right I don't think it has the strength to it that the biblical definition of Faith or believe has to it for instance I think a lot of times when we say I believe it's kind of like this chair illustration where you know the important thing is that you believe in god well what does that mean okay it's more likely than not that he exists I can see the evidence okay I I assent to his existence like mentally mentally like I intellectually accept that the evidence is strong that there is a God um and that he's more or less the one in the Bible and and we're satisfied with that right as our definition of of belief that doesn't sound very transformative no no it doesn't and and in fact the illustration here is that real belief like Ty was getting me to do is to actually sit in the chair so not only to comprehend and intellectually uh Ascent to the chair's existence and it's designed but to actually put your weight in it put your weight in it that's right to live in the chair so the word we're talking about the Greek word is pistus it shows up in the New Testament as the word faith and sometimes as the word believe yes um so it seems pretty common that that in the realm of apologetics for example as you mentioned that it's it's assumed that if a person agrees to the factualness of an idea okay you proved that to me so intellectually I agree to it yep but when the Bible uses the word pestis the word faith the word believe it means something much more Broad and deep and relationally beautiful than that does it yes yeah it's it's much richer than just this this intellectual acceptance it's it's it's much more relational well what about what about where the Bible doesn't the Bible say in the Book of James this is interesting to me that there's a sense in which the Devils believe yes and they tremble at what they believe so yeah so they're giving intellectual assent to we might say biblical truths or right or the verities of the Gospel yep that's true but you wouldn't say that the demons who believe believe in the savings sense yes right yes did the did the demons that believe are they believing in the way that Moses believed that Abraham believed right um it's it's a good question right so so what about just a basic definition of the word uh pistus yes um in the Strong's Greek dictionary we have this very simple but powerful definition of the word well Faith okay so we got that we know that's how the word is mostly translated but what's Faith yeah faithfulness now that has a little bit of a Different Twist to it right now now not only am I intellectually agreeing with a fact that's external to me right but now faithfulness is directing my life to live toward the object of my faith in a way that is faithful and so we have belief trust okay that's a powerful word yeah what about confidence and this one is huge and it is a variation of the word faith Fidelity yes right which is sort of like faithfulness yeah so so we're dealing here with with I'm going to say it this way an experiential reality a full person experiential reality right so so I I have shared sometimes with people just to make a point that it's possible to be an intellectual believer and simultaneously be a emotional atheist yes or a spiritual atheist it's high this this is exactly the confusion that leads to so many theological controversies for instance um my understanding of why a Catholic might say we are not saved Sola fide we are not saved by faith alone is because their definition of faith is leans more to the side of intellectual ascent and so to them that can't be enough right right and there's got to be more to it than that versus the biblical definition of of Faith being this Reliance not only the intellectual belief of the fact but also the trust the faithfulness the Fidelity as you pointed out it's a living faith is a living breathing thing it's not it's not just something that happens um and then and then it's done right right so so there's a fabulous story in the New Testament in which Jesus himself identifies faith when he sees it so so he has this this interaction with a Roman Centurion and in this interaction Jesus goes through the conversation with this individual and then at the conclusion of this interaction Jesus says that's it that's Faith that's what I'm talking about so let's just read this story and and see what we can derive from this story it's one of my favorite stories in the New Testament I just absolutely love it do you want to read the passage for us sure Matthew chapter eight for those who are following with us at home uh hopefully you're taking notes we're about to discover some incredible insights to what the Bible means when it uses the word faith so turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter eight we're going to start with verses 5 and 6. and and Ty just one side note Jesus loves or in the gospel they love to describe Jesus pointing out Faith from unexpected people yes this is a Roman Centurion that's right he's a hated Roman he's an occupier and yet well let's just read okay uh 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 okay then verses seven and eight 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 all right this is amazing watch this for I am also a man under Authority having soldiers under me and I say to this one go and he goes and to another come and he comes and to my servant do this and he does it all right verse 10 when Jesus heard it he marveled and said to those who followed assuredly I say to you I have not found such great faith not even in Israel IL wow wow and then this this is amazing verse 11. and 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 out into outer Darkness there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth okay so there's a number of things going on here first of all this is an unlikely candidate for for demonstrating what faith is because you've got this you've got this this sharp bifurcation between the people of God Israel and and they're represented by in the story as it's unfolding Abraham Isaac and Jacob right and these are the great fathers of faith and and the the Israelites the Jews are the posterity of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and Jesus has this interaction not with a Jewish individual but a Roman Centurion and this Roman Centurion remarkably sees something in Jesus that elicits his faith elicits his trust elicits his Reliance so he comes to Jesus and he says I've got a problem that needs to be solved it's a serious problem I've got a servant who's sick and probably going to die and Jesus says I will come and heal him and the Centurion I find this fascinating the Centurion then uses his own life experience as an illustration much as you did with the chair right he uses something in his own life to demonstrate what it is that he's experiencing with Jesus and it's remarkable isn't it it's it's incredible um and the the faith of this Centurion is is just so remarkable because for one it comes from an unexpected spot and for two the um the immediate confidence he has when Jesus says I will come heal him yes he believes it yeah he doesn't say well maybe you can or yeah there's a possibility okay well let's see what are the odds yeah let's see you know maybe you can let's see if you can do it sort of thing it's no he just accepts it okay in fact I believe you so much don't even bother coming yeah I'm not worthy for you to even come under my roof so so there's a humility there right he doesn't think he deserves it he understands that this is a Jewish rabbi he probably doesn't think he's the you know God In the Flesh or something like that at this point but he's Discerning something in there in in this person and uh and then he uses this illustration he says he says I'm a man who has some Authority myself I know how this Authority thing works yeah he knows what it's like yeah because I am a Roman Centurion I have those under me and I say to this one go and what happens he goes I say did this one come what happens he comes I say to to somebody under my authority do this and they do what I say so I derive from this Nathan see what you think of this yeah that that what we've said is this man sees something in Jesus well his illustration indicates that what he sees in Jesus is he sees that whoever this is he has authority over a realm that I don't have authority over I can't heal my servant I mean I have authority in some small area of life with the soldiers that are under me right yeah but I need something Monumental and I don't have authority over disease over the human body over over creation itself he must have a hunch that this is God In the Flesh oh yeah I mean the spirit clearly is is speaking to this Centurion and I wish I knew more about his background whether was was was he a believer in Yahweh already it could have been he easily could have been uh his his Readiness to believe in Jesus makes me think that maybe he was yeah yeah but but we don't know we don't know but there is a rumor mill but back then as there is now and the Rumor Mill back then is who who is this is this the Messiah we've been waiting for I mean Jesus has been doing all kinds of different things various signs and wonders and exploits in teaching things that nobody had ever heard before and so there is the rumor going about hey this could be this could be the one of whom all the prophets have been speaking all along the Centurion believes it he says I believe that you I have authority over my small little you know realm I believe you have authority over all creation so would you heal my servant and Jesus says I will and he says I believe you will talk about confidence talk about Reliance on the promise yeah and Jesus himself identifies this as the very kind of faith that he's looking for in all of us and all of his people he says I have not found so great faith not even in Israel and that's a that's a little bit of a yeah he's pushing back on the fact that you've got religiosity happening here I mean these are the people who are supposed to be the people of God if anybody should be believing him it's it's those who have the prophets and are looking forward but Jesus says uh I don't see even this quality of faith not even among my own people because so often from the Miracles he does you see a prove it to me Faith um you think of the one story I forget where it is but it's if you have faith or or sorry not if you have faith but if you can do this come and help me sort of right right right um but the Centurion he's not there he's saying totally 110 percent I believe you can do what you say you're going to do and I find this remarkable Nathan so Jesus then says something scandalous with the Roman Centurion before us as an example and all of those who are gathered ground mostly Jewish individuals this is a puzzling party I'm interested to hear yeah so he says many because this is just one guy it's not get Jesus says not just this one Centurion not only this one individual but many will come from the East and the west and sit down in the Kingdom with Abraham Isaac and Jacob Jesus just said first of all at a bare minimum this Centurion is a part of God's family and will be in the Eternal Kingdom but he goes a step further and he says many many people from the East and the West that is that is people from outside of the perimeter of Israel people who are not Jewish people who are not Hebrew people who are not regarded as the chosen people of God this is a Roman Centurion yeah there will be people from from every nation Kindred language group and people who fled into the kingdom because God isn't looking for you know the right genetics you know I'm saying oh oh okay so you you came from Abraham's seed yeah genetically biologically no you're Abraham's child by faith your spiritual experience is a clear demonstration of the real thing that God is looking for yeah it's amazing no that's that's incredible and you know sometimes we get the impression that you know okay in the Old Testament it was all for Israel and in the New Testament they finally opened up to everyone else but I mean you go back to Isaiah 56 and it talks about you know the foreigners who believe in me who join themselves to the Lord who keep the Sabbath who choose the things that please me yeah um the eunuchs he talks about these different people groups that you don't think of as fitting in the definition of Israel and he says if you join yourself to my Covenant You Are My People brother and I will give you an inheritance you brought that up so I got to bring this up are you are you aware because Jesus says many will come from the East as well as the West so West you know from where Jesus is standing and saying these words there in Palestine yeah West would be you know Rome and the British Isles and you know all the way you know Scotland in England the West all right but what's to the east this is interesting you brought up Isaiah Isaiah 49 says it's a prophecy of the coming Messiah and says listen o coastlands to me coastlands hmm and take heed you peoples from afar and then A Prophecy of the Messiah follows and then in verse 12 it literally says that the coming Messiah the savior of the world Jesus is also for the people of sin nem s-i-n-i-m the people of sin now so what's we even use the word today A variation of the word when we talk about for example Synology is the study of things Chinese okay and when we hear in the news about sino-american diplomatic talks Sino is China talking with the Vino Tibetan language group exactly so the the word synonym is a ancient word that refers to the peoples of the East China and understanding more than China but the peoples of the East and right here in the Old Testament Jesus specifically is the Messiah not only of Israel but he's the savior of the people of sin nem wow that's incredible so the vision had always been like this for they've always been like that that's right and and the people of Israel kept you know kept narrowing that definition and so and so Christ is trying to say no it's yes it's all Corners yes yes and this this story in in Matthew chapter eight uh pretty much concludes with verse 13 then Jesus said to the Centurion go your way and as you have believed right as you have believed so let it be done to you and his servant was healed that same hour praise God that's amazing yeah so this this guy believes and Jesus says your belief is is is is is going to actualize just go home and take a look he goes home and takes a look and he finds that his servant is healed that same hour yeah amazing amazing I mean that story just helps us conceptualize so much what what faith is yes yes so we're essentially saying that faith is more than intellectual Ascent to doctrinal facts for example even you know the demons believe in that sense and that mere intellectual sense yeah so so here's a working definition that we'd like to suggest to our fellow Bible students um write this down this is a good note to take put in your notes that Faith we're discovering in scripture faith is total confidence in and Reliance upon Upon Jesus the exact opposite of Nathan's reluctance to sit in that chair yeah he's assessing he's doing apologetics on the chair it's there it's it's well back but no sit in the chair sit in the chair live in the chair total live in the chair live in the chair and that brings us to the next point that I think that we want to make and that is that that another word in the New Testament in the in the English version that that that we get from pistus is believed and we have an example of that in probably the most famous text of scripture and Ty real quick let me just say in the Greek so so in English we have these we have these two words we have faith and we have believe and believe is is the now or I'm sorry the verb and and faith is the noun and they don't look alike in Greek there's the same root so you have pistas as faith and pisteo as believe yeah so the words yes look very similar they have the same root they're very tightly but in English we're kind of throng because yeah faith and belief yeah what are those happening yeah so if you if you could have a word that that was to Faith or faithing you know that could work is that a word no I I don't think so I think you just made up a word all right that's fine let's roll with it yeah yeah um the Oxford English Dictionary looks for new words every year and they add new words two or three four five new words each year so if we use it enough they may take note we can start a trend and then and then they'll be forced to add it because people are using it that's right so so the most prominent verse in the Bible probably I mean if anybody's heard anything about the Bible they've heard John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life so so here the word faith and believe are pretty much equivalents and I find it interesting that even the word believe in the English which I if I'm not mistaken derives from the Latin but the word believe is a combination of two words and that is to live by so so even to believe something isn't merely to to say okay that's true yeah and then I'm just gonna go on living my life as I Jolly well please contrary to what I said and it's rude it means the same thing as uh pisteo in the Greek or or pistis yes it's just the way we've used it that has soften that definition so what do you think about Colleen Faith uh broadening the definition of faith to to include we said trust Fidelity faithfulness how about faith is to live by yes lived by you said live in yes live in the chair you got to live in it that's the only thing that proves the Verity of your actual Faith yeah so yeah to live by that that's a crucial Point Ty and luckily we have so many great examples in the Bible that show us what that looks like so you know we don't have time to dig into it right now but I think of Hebrews 11. so if you have time tonight or sometime this week I encourage you to read Hebrews 11. it is so inspiring uh I read it last night sometimes it's called the Hall of Faith it's the Hall of Faith yeah the Hall of Fame as opposed to fame yeah but it's it's touching because it's starts in the Old Testament it goes through these these characters who live by faith one of my favorite lines is talking about Moses and this is Hebrews 11 27 and talking about him persevering as if he was seeing the invisible so persevering is this as if the invisible were visible that kind of goes back to verse 1 of Hebrews 11 right is it verse one or two or whatever faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of Things Not Seen that's right in in that word I believe it's the word for substance is is uh hupostasis in in a good translation of that is the thing that you can put your full weight on so when we think of substance we think of like oh it's a metal substance or a wooden substance right but but this means this is like you know you can lean on this thing that's what faith is Faith is the substance could then be translated faith is the thing you can put your entire way wait upon exactly yeah exactly so that's amazing so the the Hebrews chapter 11 I think is remarkable because if you read through and again as Nathan encouraged you read this chapter through just for your own pleasure and edification chapter 11 of Hebrews is remarkable because it's all these examples but the thing that stands up out to me in Hebrews chapter 11 is that every time one of these individuals is described as exercising faith it involves some kind of movement some kind of action something yeah by faith so and so did something no it never says by faith somebody believed something but failed to act they're all moving in the direction of their trust right yeah so actions are yeah for instance Hebrews 11 7 by faith Noah warned by God about events as yet unseen respected the warning and built an ark to save his household old so that's an action and and you think about you know going back to living persevering as if the invisible were visible Noah had to persevere for how long did he build that boat was it 100 years was it more 120 years he was preaching I don't know if he's probably building the boat the whole time I mean for that long he was relying solely on the promise that was all he had to to show him that what he was doing was not just completely crazy so I guess we're saying that faith is active I mean if it's a real thing if it's the real thing it's active it's active so there's this popular notion um that you no doubt have encountered I've encountered it this popular idea of faith that that is essentially um you know on June 9th you know 2013 um I responded to an altar call I came forward and I said the sinner's prayer and I I believed and I'm safe somebody said it to me the other day in fact somebody who was doing something uh at my house they were there doing some work at my house and and he said yeah and he gave the date and he said that's when I believed in Jesus he said he said beyond that I don't really need to understand anything maybe you don't need to understand a whole lot but here's the thing I don't think that when the Bible speaks of Faith it's referring to the idea of like like putting faith in Jesus isn't like believing in a four-leaf clover or a rabbit's foot for some future okay so I'm in but now I'm going to just proceed with my life as though my faith my belief system were one Department with a or one room and the door is closed yeah but it doesn't come into the kitchen doesn't come into the living room it doesn't come into the yard it doesn't come into the workplace it doesn't come into my relationship well that's Ty that's going back to Faith being intellectual assent to something um it also is going into turning faith into into a moment versus a relationship yes that that drives you not a moment but like a Continuum through something you live in something you live in something you sit in yeah I love that illustration because your confidence so so so we just read John 3 16 you know to believe in Jesus visas but check this out for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved so what I think is happening here verse 16 says for God so loved the world that he gave us on the begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life well now the word saved is used so belief in the savior in the father who gave the Savior belief in Jesus results in Salvation according to this right I don't condemn you but you're saved but then this is interesting he who believes in him that is in Jesus this is Verse 18 is not condemned but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed check this out Nathan in the name of the only begotten Son of God now that is not simply to say to believe in you know the collection of letters that create the phonetical sound Jesus you know j-e-s-u-s yeah just to say the word right the word name is interesting because because the word name it kind of represents the totality of who he is you know his character and his his mission and his work and the whole salvation Enterprise so to believe in his name is to believe that he is the savior of the world and the perfect representation of of the character of God to the world to believe that God is as good as beautiful as wonderful as we see in Jesus amen just just that's faith is bigger than that it's bigger than merely saying ticking off you know the box of a intellectual belief yeah and and it's so when you look at faith that way as as relational as reliance as as faithfulness um it it kind of helps us get out of the Trap that I think many Christians are in and and many versions of Christianity are you know pretty much we believe in gods that we go to heaven when we die yeah and then it's kind of like okay well between now and then get on with your life go to other stuff yeah you know and faith is what is teaching us what to do between now and then yeah yeah because I find it interesting that that you know popular religion um divides you know life into spirit and secular right I have my spiritual life you know I might go to church one day a week and you know I'm there for a few hours and I sing you know spiritual songs that's my spiritual life but then there's my secular life and they don't intersect the Bible doesn't really know anything about this division of of spiritual and secular the Bible only knows about sacred and profane right these are the categories in the Bible in the biblical sense your whole life is to be touched by my whole life is to be it pervaded by Jesus so Jesus shows up not just with me in a spiritual service of some kind of worship service you know that that I attend but Jesus is with me and wanting to be with me as a part of the way I do my business transactions yes you know the way I might have a car that's for sale right I I have a used car and I want to sell it but I know the thing has a bad transmission yeah am I gonna am I gonna disclose that truth yeah so that I sell it for what it's actually worth knowing that the person has to replace the transmission and say hey it's got a bad transmission but I'll sell it to you for what it What It's Worth minus the transmission and then you'll put that a little bit of extra money into the transmission and the person is like wow that's super honest wow like you didn't have to do that you didn't have to do that you could have ripped me off and then go to church yeah and and be spiritual in some Department of your life but I think faith is practical yeah that's what I'm saying and in Thai when it's not practical when you're not living your whole life by faith um integrally in integrally you said it right second time yeah um when when you're not living your entire our life by faith it's confusing for non-believers right because then they see okay here's this person they go to church on a certain day and they have a spiritual experience but then in the restaurant they're a jerk to the waiter oh it's just it doesn't it's it doesn't match and and that's not saying that like people are perfect but it's saying that like you are by believing in Christ one of the things that that you are doing is you're stepping out into the promise of second Corinthians 5 17 you will be a new creation yeah yeah um and and saying Lord I don't necessarily feel like a new creation right I don't feel worthy of being a new creation I'm pretty messed up but I'm stepping out into the promise that you will make in me a new creation and you're living by that promise and you're stepping out into the dark um and and you know you're relying on Christ to do that work in you yeah so good so good so the final point that we want to bring to your attention you are fellow Bible students and I keep emphasizing that because we that's what we're wanting to encourage you to become if you're not already the Bible's Rich get into the word and you will discover amazing things so you are fellow Bible students this is the final point we want to bring to your attention we want to ask the question and allow scripture to answer the question what is the ground of our faith by which we mean what is the foundation of our faith and I'd like to suggest that John 3 16 a verse we've already looked at makes this clear here now listen to this language again in this light for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son pause right there so far in the text all that is described is the actions of God is love and out of God's love God is doing something God is giving the the you know Ultimate Gift of his son so so God loves and out of his love he gives so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life so the believing that we see in this passage is preceded by God loving and giving so so so his love and the gift of Christ is the object of our faith our Reliance our trust we're not we're not asked to believe in a monster we're not asked to believe in the irrational we're asked to believe in the most rational thing that you could possibly imagine and that is that that if God exists and we believe of course he does if God exists well God ultimately would have to be the most beautiful person in the universe God would have to be be the most holy the most righteous the most you would have to be good and wonderful in every every sense imagine that's right it's only by believing in the goodness of God um that that we come to Faith it's only about hearing and where is it in Romans where it says faith is by hearing yeah chapter two verse four yeah no no no faith is by hearing yeah yeah it's chapter 10 I thought you were referring to by the good that the goodness of God leads us to repentance well well that too um but but faith is by hearing so we hear the gospel and we hear about the love of God right and that is what triggers our faith amazing so his love is the object of our Reliance and how about this second Timothy 2 and verse 13. oh yeah I love this if we are faithless and we will be and we will be at times um or I'll just use myself as an example I was faithless until I was 18 years of age I did not believe even in the existence of God let alone the goodness of God yeah um so I was faithless but here's the remarkable thing if we're faithless and when we're faithful faithless he remains faithful because he can't deny himself he can't help himself can't help himself that's a good way of saying that yeah it's just like when we talked about Agape how how you said his love is never turned off for us he is always loving us no matter what response he's just loving us and going after us and this is very important for me Ty because I think one one thing I hear from people is okay so does that mean like I have to be perfect does that mean like my faith has to be Flawless like to have this faith and and this is saying like you're going to have moments of weakness I mean you think of hours maybe days maybe years I mean you think about the examples in Hebrews 11 I think of Abraham so Paul is obsessed with using him as an example of Faith yeah in Hebrews he's used as an example of Faith but the thing about his life he made mistakes yes you know he lied about his wife being his sister he um you know the whole Hagar and Ishmael thing yeah you know that was kind of actually uh Sarah and Abraham trying to skirt around God's promise like okay well obviously God isn't going to fulfill his promise through Sarah so let's find let's make a plan B that was a you know that that was a moment where his faith fell but yet he is described as this man of Faith yeah so it's this you know that that's what faith is all about it's this walk this relationship if you have moments of weakness you just get up and and God is right there and he is faithful he can't help himself he can't help he's can't deny himself he can't he can't be other than who he is yes he is good he does love you and there's nothing you can do to stop him from being good or loving you yeah so you you walk in faith and you stumble on the walk but you get up and you keep walking and relying on that promise amen amen and then Romans chapter 3 verses 3 and 4 for what if some did not believe and and you know if well that was the fact of the matter there were those who were not believing will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effects certainly not indeed let God be true but every man a liar and that goes back to our original definition of Faith as Fidelity that is when it says let God be true God will be faithful to me even when I'm not faithful to him so you know what if some do not believe will that altered God no we're not pagans we don't believe that that we by what we do make a god better than he is God is who he is in in Christian faith is not like Pagan Faith Pagan Faith seeks to move God to do something that God wouldn't be willing to die if I didn't do something for him something to make God obligated to do something for me yeah but this is remarkable God is constant God is faithful God is who he is who he is who he is who he is full stop and there's nothing we can do to alter the goodness of God God's faithful love precedes and is the object of our faith he's the rock of our faith as David So oft loved to say yeah yeah he's the ground he's the foundation um these are remarkable things that that we are discovering from the word pistus now we've just scratched the surface you need to know that um our notes include many more scriptures and many more insights that we just don't have time to go into and and so I'm saying that to kind of encourage you and wet your appetite to get into scripture for yourself and that's right and just take the time just take the time just just look at what scripture has to say about faith and belief and you will see the this this rich full orbed Full Experience kind of faith that like the Centurion is demonstrated in total Reliance Upon Jesus to do exactly what it is that he says he will do thank you for joining us for this study of pistas join us next time in this series of on Words as we look in part five at the New Testament Greek word Zoe thank you

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Length: 42min 21sec (2541 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 24 2022