This Will Require Faith | The Ancient Future | Online Weekend Experience

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] hey everybody welcome to valley creek online my name is tripp and we are so glad that you're here the team and i we have been praying for you all week and we know that jesus has something he wants to say to you and so wherever you are in the world and wherever you're joining us in from i want to encourage you to jump in the chat on facebook or our youtube say hello to the rest of the online campus because we're here to worship together and hey valley creek is one church that meets in multiple campuses that carries the hope of jesus to thousands of locations and we're a movement of hope and hey i want to encourage you if you're ready to join the movement i want to invite you to join the movement experience that's happening on sunday october 3rd it's going to be right here online at 12 30 central you can sign up for that on our website but this is a time for us to share the story of valley creek what we believe in our theology and how you can be a hope carrier right where you are so come join the movement sign up let us know that you're going to be there i can't wait to see you listen valley creek is a family we're here to worship jesus together because we're passionate about the presence of god so right now wherever you are i want to encourage you just put your attention and your affection on jesus because he's here to encounter you so jesus we welcome you in as we join in with the rest of the valley creek [Music] all right hey valley creek man wherever you are today we're coming here to celebrate jesus in the new life that he's brought to us to bring him honor to give him glory so let's do that together let's celebrate him let's raise our faith let's sing of who he is and what he's done here we go [Music] [Music] you found me you freed me [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] cause you're the god who fights for me the lord of every victory hallelujah [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Applause] all right come on now let's celebrate it together put your hands like this [Music] come on if jesus has brought you from death to life you have a reason to sing you have a reason to celebrate so right here right now god we lift our faith we raise our heads we look to you we cling to [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] you have led me through the deep hallelujah [Music] [Music] so we sing that out because jesus keeps leading us forward no matter what's going on in life he has a way forward he is the way forward and so today we get to celebrate that jesus is still leading people forward through the waters of baptism you see this week across all of our campuses there are 63 baptisms that we're celebrating 63 people that are moving forward in jesus name at this service we're going to have about 16 of those so wherever you're watching from wherever you're joining us about 16 people 16 people are moving forward by faith with jesus i really had a strong sense before we started today that to just say that the son of man came to seek and save that which was lost jesus is still seeking he's still saving he's still finding lost things and we celebrate over those that are found you see in the waters of baptism people are just going to say jesus is lord and i'm going to follow him this is a public declaration of an internal decision a decision to follow jesus into everything in life and so what's going to happen in just a moment when the people walk in they're going to say is jesus lord and will you follow they're going to say yes jesus lord and i will follow then based on that profession of faith they're going to say i baptize you now in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit that's important because being baptized in the name of the father means you now have a family being baptized in the name of jesus the son means you now have the righteousness that jesus has being baptized in the name of the spirit means that you walk in the character and the power of the spirit everything has changed and that's what we celebrate today so at valley creek you may not have gotten a chance to see how we do baptisms here's how we do baptisms we cheer for each and every one of them we cheer for each and every one of these people that's stepping forward into the waters by faith and we know that this is it that their past may try to follow them into the waters it cannot follow them out their history and their shame and their sin may try to follow them into this moment it won't follow them forward and so valley creek church here's what i want you to catch this is why we exist this is what it actually looks like to be a movement of hope for the city and beyond in the waters today is going to be someone's mom in the waters today is going to be a student that someone has prayed for in the waters today is somebody's neighbor somebody's co-worker there's somebody somebody that they prayed for for so long and they never thought that they'd see this moment and here it is this is what being a movement of hope for the city and beyond actually looks like so as we cheer on each one 1-16 don't forget jesus is still in the business of seeking and saving that which is lost and he's doing it through the mission of this church family he's doing it through the life that is valley creek church come on this is what a movement of hope looks like [Applause] [Music] no matter who you are and welcome to freedom welcome to hope you've seen and you wanted oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to jesus and welcome [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] with jesus welcome to jesus [Music] is [Music] get ready for a miracle get ready for your miracle get ready for a miracle [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hear anything is possible [Music] this hope is undeniable [Music] get ready for a miracle get ready for your miracle hear anything is possible [Music] get ready [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you surround me with a song of deliverance from my enemies till all my [Music] [Applause] [Music] a fears of god and i'm no longer [Music] yes [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] again into your family [Music] oh i am a child of god [Applause] [Music] oh i am a child of god [Music] [Applause] [Music] of god [Music] here in this [Music] are moment and i am surrounded [Music] by the arms of the father we are surrounded by songs of [Applause] deliverance [Applause] [Music] for who we are [Music] let us [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Applause] you split the season is [Music] you rescued me [Music] i am i am [Music] [Applause] thank you jesus that we can be confident in that today that you bring all things from death to life that we don't have to worry we don't have to fear because there is no fear in love and your love is in this place today and this is all just to celebrate who you are to us so we just simply say thank you thank you lord for who you are and the freedom that you have given us today and we say thank you in your name amen amen all right valley creek i'm so glad that you're with us today why don't you go ahead and find your seat as we continue through our service today [Music] [Music] all right hey everybody welcome to valley creek we are so glad you are here come on whatever campus you're at come on let's just give it up today welcome each other hope is here everyone is welcome and jesus changes everything we are a movement of hope for the city and beyond raising up generations of hope carriers who change their worlds we are one church that meets at multiple campuses and carries the hope of jesus to thousands of locations and as we got to celebrate baptisms today it reminds us that hope is still on the move that jesus is still changing people's lives he's restoring identities reconciling relationships and redeeming purposes and so my hope is is that in some way that encouraged your heart today you see we are in a series called the ancient future practicing the way of jesus and what we're doing is we're looking back at those who have gone before us and looking at how they live to help us figure out how we shall now live you see there is an ancient wisdom an ancient word and an ancient way that is our path through this modern world jesus says he is the way the truth and the life and that he is the same yesterday today and forever well if jesus is the way and he doesn't change then he was the way he is the way and he will be the way so as we follow him we're practicing the way of jesus and finding life in the midst of this modern world and really our theme verse in this series is jeremiah chapter six the prophet says to us stand at the crossroads and look ask for the ancient paths ask where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls he says there is a crossroads that you're standing at there's two paths that lie in front of you one is the modern road of this world the way of comfort and convenience the the road that says come let us eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die come do what you want when you want how you want this is the way of comfort and opinions and preferences and logic and reason and emotions and this is really easy to get on and really hard to get off this is the path of least resistance and personal happiness but it ends in destruction he says but then there's an ancient path a narrow road with a small gate a good way the way of jesus and on that path you will find rest for your souls and it's hard to get on and it's easy to get off because it's the path of greatest resistance but personal holiness and it leads to life now we've talked about that for the last few weeks and i've left the last part of the verse off until today but you said we will not walk in it he says you stand at a crossroads there's a modern world that leads to death there's an ancient path that leads to life but you said we will not walk in it why because if we're just straight up honest we would much rather walk by sight than by faith anybody want to agree with that like like straight up we would much rather live our life by sight than by faith but the ancient path is the way of faith i mean we would much rather make decisions based on what we can see smell taste touch what we can control what we can understand what feels logical or reasonable to us but but the way of faith it requires belief and trust submission surrender and dependency we would rather walk by sight than by faith and so we have to ask ourselves this question like what is faith faith is being sure of what you hope for certain of what you do not see faith is living from the invisible towards the visible faith is anchored in the character and the nature of god faith is being more focused on the superior realities of the kingdom than the inferior realities of this world faith is willing to follow and trust god for the results faith is the belief in the goodness of god in the midst of our circumstances in spite of our circumstances as faith but doubt on the other hand doubt is anchored in the natural unbelief is simply faith in the inferior unbelief is the belief in anything or the faith in anything that's not god and it's focused on the inferior realities that we can taste see smell and touch as opposed to the superior realities that are invisible and the problem with unbelief is unbelief doesn't risk anything therefore it gets exactly what it often is expecting but here's what we have to understand cynicism is not a fruit of the spirit skepticism is not the character of jesus and being a realist does not honor god come on fear often hides behind wisdom and doubt likes to stand behind discernment but if i wait to follow until i can understand or it seems logical or reasonable to me then i've brought god down to my level and i've become god not him does that make sense to you but that's not who we are we're people of faith for we walk by faith not by sight i mean think about it the moment jesus comes to the disciples and says come follow me i'll make you fishers of men why was he inviting them to a life of faith everything he was going to ask them to do required faith everywhere he was going to ask them to go required faith everything he asked them to believe was going to require faith because that's the way of jesus i mean all we have to do is go all the way back to the garden right when god makes adam and eve and he puts them in the garden he invites them to walk the ancient path the narrow road a life of faith and he says hey i've made you in my image and my likeness and i'm here to walk with you and i've empowered you with authority over all creation and there's only one thing i'm going to ask you not to do don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for when you do you will surely die and what happens in genesis chapter 3 it tells us that when eve saw when eve saw that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was good for food pleasing to the eye and desirable for gaining wisdom she took some and she ate and in that moment the modern world that leads to destruction of comfort and convenience and sight was open once and for all and we've been funneling through that ever since see the great temptation of our lives is the same temptation that adam and eve have the temptation is to live by sight when we're invited to walk by faith but what we have to remember is that sight is limited sight is finite sight is inferior it's contained within the natural while faith faith is limitless the faith is is superior faith is not contained or controlled to what you can see faith creates faith inspires faith enables faith activates faith is victorious faith overcomes faith moves forward faith is how we grab the superior realities of the kingdom and bring them into the inferior realities of our life it's how we actually experience the life that god has for us it's superior in every way and it's the ancient path in fact in hebrews chapter 11 i love this it says now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see this is what the ancients were commended for see if you can catch this the ancients those who have gone before us what we're doing in this series looking back they were commended for their faith in other words they weren't celebrated for their knowledge for their religion for their behavior they were honored and celebrated by god for their faith that in the midst of every generation through every situation and circumstance they chose to be people of faith in fact hebrews chapter 11 it's an amazing chapter because it goes through and it talks about all these heroes of the faith and how they lived and it says over and over by faith by faith by faith abel tithe gave god his first and best by faith noah built a boat in the desert before it even reigned by faith abraham got up and went to a place he wasn't even sure where he was going but he knew god asked him to go by faith moses chose to reject the way of this world so he could walk with god by faith they conquered kingdoms by faith they shut the mouths of lions by faith they overcome by faith they were victorious by faith and these weren't perfect people that chapter is full of murderers adulterers deceivers and yet at some point in time they realized i'm done walking this road of sight because it just leads to destruction i'm going to start walking this narrow road of faith and that's what we're commended for see god is amazed by our faith and that amazes me god is amazed by either our lack of faith or by our great faith in fact in mark chapter six one day jesus in his own hometown to do miracles he's there he's got the power of god the spirit of god and yet it says he could not do many miracles there and he was amazed at their lack of faith in other words their doubt their unbelief they were so anchored in the natural the impossibilities the obstacles that they prevented jesus from doing that which he wanted to do i wonder how many times does our lack of faith prevent god from doing the very thing he wants to do and then at another time jesus's encounter with a roman centurion a gentile somebody who didn't grow up with faith and he comes to jesus and says jesus my servant is sick well you heal him and jesus says sure i'll go with you and he stops him he says you don't even need to come with me for you are a man of authority all you have to do is say it and it will be done but jesus looks at the man and it says he was amazed at his great faith see god is not impressed with your knowledge with your religion or your behavior he is amazed by our faith and jesus says that when he returns he asks the question when i return will i find faith on the earth i don't know if he'll find faith out there but i want him to find faith right here he said well what is faith faith now faith so faith is now it's not in the past or in the future it's right now now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see so see if you can catch this with me faith is being more sure of what we hope for than what we have and it's being more certain of what we do not see than what we see another translation uses the word confidence there so faith is being more confident of what i hope for than what i have being more certain of what i don't see than what i see say well how how does that work it would be something like this like uh think of how many times we continue to date someone who is not really the person we really want it's who we have so we hold on to what we have as opposed to reaching out for what we hoped for oh that hit close didn't it it's like i got confidence in what i got so i'm gonna hold on to what i got even though it ain't very good when i should be reaching out for what i hoped for or how about how many times do we stay in a really broken and dysfunctional job we stay there why because we have more confidence in what we have than what we hope for how many times do we tolerate a life of mediocrity inferiority brokenness average neutral below the line why because we have more confidence in what we have than what we hoped for but faith has more confidence than we hope for than what we have does that make sense okay let me flip it for you and say it like this how often do we have more confidence in the depression and the anxiety that we have than the peace and the joy that we hope for how often do we have more confidence in the sickness and the brokenness that we have than in the healing and the miracle that we hope for how often do we have more confidence in the impossibility right in front of us than the miraculous that god wants to do the breakthrough that we hope for faith is having more confidence in what we hope for than what we have what we don't see than what we can see and every time you start living with words like this will always be this way things will never change you have more confidence in what you have than what you hoped for but ephesians 3 20 says god will do immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine faith is more focused on what we hope for than what we have does that make sense to you let me think about it like this when god comes and invites peter to come and follow him peter had had all kinds of stuff he had a fishing business and a family and a way of life he could see he understood by sight all of his life and in that moment when jesus invites him to follow he has to decide to have more confidence in what i have or in the life that i hope for but you have to let go of what you have to order to be reach out and take a hold of what you hoped for i mean i remember right when i graduated college i wanted to be in law enforcement i worked really hard i took all the tests i did all the things passed all the stuff and i got two offers to get in two different departments at the same time and i was so excited i was just trying to figure out which one i was gonna take and i'll never forget they're sitting there trying to figure out which one and then hearing god say to me you know this isn't what i have for you what you know this isn't what i have for you the door's open you can take it if you want but i have so much more in store for you you want to tell me what that is no and in that moment i had to decide to have more confidence in what i have those two jobs were what i hoped for the life that god has for me and so by faith i declined both of those jobs not having a clue what it was that god was inviting me to but a week later he dropped this in my heart and now i get to live the life that guy hoped for the life that god had for me imagine if i would have just held on to what i had i would have missed out on all of this does that make sense to you i mean let me try to illustrate it for you like this maybe it'll help some of you let's say you go on amazon and you're going to order your favorite thing off of amazon okay the new book the watch the garden tool i don't know whatever the thing is you buy on amazon and you go onto amazon and you buy that thing you put in your credit card and you press submit the moment you press enter and you just purchased that thing you have confidence that it's going to show up at your house right i mean you bought it you paid for it you got the receipt to prove it so even if it doesn't show up that day or the next day or a week from then you still have confidence that that thing is going to show up on your door because it's been paid for so it now belongs to you you don't ever sit there and wonder is that garden tool gonna come no why because you have proof that it belongs to you that's the kind of faith that hebrews 11 is talking about that the moment jesus went to the cross the death burial and resurrection of jesus purchased paid for once and for all the life of the kingdom you now have a receipt the receipt is called the deposit of the spirit of the living god inside of you as evidence or substance that the fullness of the kingdom now belongs to you so you can have more confidence in what you hope for than what you have because you have a deposit saying this belongs to me that's the kind of confidence he's talking about here does that make sense to you come on it takes faith faith to go when you want to stay faith to stay when you want to go faith to give when you want to receive faith to receive when you want to give faith to serve when you want to be served faith to apologize when you want someone to apologize to you it takes faith to walk the ancient path i mean think about it how did you get on the ancient path in the first place how did you get on the narrow road in the first place you got on the narrow road and through the small gate by faith for you have been saved by grace through faith grace the undeserved favor of god jesus has forgiven you he's redeemed your identity reconciled your relationship with god redeemed your purpose it was by faith you got through that narrow gate onto that narrow road and now we try to live by sight well no if i got on it by faith i'm called to live on it by faith in fact this is why it says that the righteous will live by faith i became righteous by faith so now as someone who's been made right with god i'm called to live by faith this is how we got into the kingdom this is how we live the life of the kingdom this is how we go deeper into the kingdom and isn't it ironic that we will trust god by faith for our salvation but not for our situation it's like i had faith to get through the narrow gate but now i got to live my life by sight no no no no you got on the narrow road by faith now you walk it by faith one step at a time trusting in the goodness of god in the midst or in spite of your circumstances you with me on this i mean in i love this one day the crowd asks jesus they say what must we do to do the works god requires jesus answered the work of god is this to believe in the one he has sent this is fascinating so what's the work of god that's required of you the work of god is not to work off your past it's not to work to secure your future it's not even work to be successful today you don't have to perform you don't have to earn you don't have to achieve anything the work of god is to believe god says the work that i have for you is to believe to cultivate a heart of faith cultivate a life of belief to remove the unbelief and the doubt from your life we have to work to believe like when you you have to work to believe in the supernatural don't you you have to work to believe in signs and wonders and miracles and healings in breakthrough in the superior realities of the kingdom of god and as we look back on the ancients who have gone before us on that ancient path every one of their lives in every generation that we can see the narrow road was marked by the supernatural by miraculous by signs and wonders and so my question for you is when was the last time there was a supernatural move in your life when was the last time there was a miracle or a breakthrough or a sign and wonder i mean if that's what this road is full of and we don't see any of that in our life then we have to ask ourselves the question am i actually walking by faith or am i really living by sight come on jesus says you'll do the things that he has been doing and even greater things than these he says heal the sick raise the dead cleanse the lepers he said power of the spirit of god has come upon you so we have to work to believe that that is true and that is the normal reality of the ancient path and not only do we have to work to believe in the supernatural we have to work to believe the basic things like god is with me that god is for me and that god loves me come on hebrews chapter 11 says and without faith it is impossible to please god because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and he rewards those who earnestly seek him it's faith that pleases god not religion not knowledge not behavior faith say faith in what that he is who he says he is that he did what he said he did and that he will do what he said he will do so how's your faith has your faith in this season see i think if we're honest and we look at the last two years all the realities of this world have eroded a lot of our faith so many things that we've relied upon and trusted in and rested on have been completely washed away and we didn't see it coming and as those things have gotten washed away our faith has come crumbling down but if my faith falls when something else crumbles then my faith really wasn't in god it was really in that thing and i think that's what a lot of us are experiencing are realizing in this season that maybe we had more faith in politics or in health care mandates or in economic policies or in education or in situations or circumstances that we really do in god and when that happens it's actually god's grace because he's trying to draw your attention to it to say hey let's remove these things so you can once again be focused on me come on your beliefs are supposed to determine your experiences your experiences aren't supposed to determine your beliefs we aren't supposed to lower our beliefs down to our experiences we're supposed to raise our experiences up to our beliefs and the problem is over this last season our experiences in life for a lot of us have been going like this boom boom boom and so we've brought our faith or our belief to match what we're experiencing as opposed to saying no this is who god is this is what god says i refuse to be defined by the inferior realities of this world and i will raise these experiences to match what i believe about the goodness and the character of god so can i ask you a question where are you lowering your beliefs to match your experiences or said another way where have you lost faith faith in that marriage being restored faith in that healing coming lost faith in that child or in your family dynamic and finances in that breakthrough where have you lost faith don't bring your beliefs down to what you're experiencing raise your experiences up to your belief you're with me on that i mean there's a great story in genesis chapter 32. it's the story of jacob now jacob's not the best guy he's a deceiver he's a liar he's a cheat and he's in a really hard season in his life really tough circumstances and situations and he's got reference points of god in his life but it doesn't seem when we get to genesis 32 like his faith is really alive and one night it says a man comes and wrestles with jacob all night long they literally wrestle all night long like physically they're grappling you know throwing elbows punches you know all the different moves they wrestle all night long and as the sun begins to come up on the horizon the man says the jacob the sun is coming up let me go and jacob says no i am not going to let you go until you bless me and so the man looks at jacob and says your name will no longer be jacob but israel because you have struggled with god and with men and have overcome you see that night jacob wasn't wrestling with a man he was wrestling with god and jacob refused to let go of god all night long in the midst of his faith struggles in the midst of his brokenness in the midst of his pain he just kept wrestling with god all night long and he wasn't going to let him go until god blessed him until he was transformed and i love he goes from jacob which means deceiver to israel which means prince with god and he says you have struggled with god and with men and have overcome like you didn't give up you didn't let go and the breakthrough came i think a whole lot of us right now are wrestling with god wrestling with god are you real do you exist are you good does the gospel work and change people's lives why aren't you speaking why aren't you moving why is this happening where is my breakthrough and all that is fine keep wrestling with god don't give up wrestle if you've got to wrestle all night long refuse to let him go until he blesses you and changes you until there's an identity transformation within you struggle with god and men but overcome don't give up until you have a greater understanding of the goodness of god in fact jacob goes on to say i have i have seen god face to face and have lived the more you see god the more you live so don't give up in the wrestle see him in a new and deeper way come on this is faith faith follows the good shepherd into the valley of the shadow of death and refuses to get off the ancient path because they know that eventually it will lead to green pastures sight the moment sight sees the valley of the shadow of death and the horizon gets off of the path and goes the way of comfort and convenience but it ends in destruction i mean first peter says in this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials feels like this last season right suffering grief all kinds of trials he says but you greatly rejoice in that that's funny but you can rejoice in the grief and the trials if you understand that they have come so that your sin faith which is of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by the fire may be proved genuine in other words all of the tests and the trials and the pain and the brokenness all that stuff is actually there to refine your faith and if it's faith that god wants us to work on and it's faith that pleases god and if the righteous live by faith and the narrow road is walked by faith then when we understand that we can actually start to rejoice in it because we know god is being good to us to strengthen and deepen our belief in the superior realities of the kingdom in the midst of the inferior realities of this world so don't drop your beliefs to everybody else's experiences don't bring your faith down to your family's level or your your work level or school level or leaving the people in your circle or on your team no no faith god's doing a deep work he's purifying something profound within us in this season that's why it says therefore we do not lose heart like we're not giving up we're going to keep wrestling with god though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen for what is seen as temporary but what is unseen is eternal in other words he says people who live by faith people who walk the narrow road people who take the ancient path refuse to allow life to be defined by what they see they allow life to be defined by what god has said so we look from the invisible towards the invisible toward the visible knowing that that comfort that convenience that situation that trial that circumstance it's temporary but what we can't see righteousness peace joy the finished work of jesus it's eternal come on you're with me on this this is challenging isn't it maybe it is for me maybe not you because like here's the question that we have to ask ourselves how do we know if we're walking by sight or faith amazing how easy it is to blur the lines and we kind of like make ourselves feel good about it but like how do you know well you know by how you respond to a situation or circumstance that comes into your life if a situation or circumstance comes into your life and you react you you like panic you get angry frustrated judgmental bitter stressed out overwhelmed worried broke down you're walking by sight why because you just let something that you saw dictate the inner realities of your life that's a life of sight but if that same situation or circumstance moves into my life and i respond with love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness faithfulness and self-control i know i'm walking by faith because that's the fruit of the spirit being manifested in my life because i'm walking with the spirit on the road of life and i get it it's a whole lot easier to freak out than it is to have faith right comfort convenience control the only problem with this road is i don't want to be at the mercy of where it takes me i would much rather follow the good shepherd knowing that he will help me find rest for my soul come on see what you have to understand is that sight reacts faith initiates when a situation or circumstance comes into life sight reacts it panics it freaks out it reacts to what the world is trying to do to them but faith initiates what god wants to do through them faith sees that same situation or circumstance and looks at it and and figures out how do we bring the kingdom of god into that space like we are people of the kingdom we stand in the face of impossibilities and refuse to allow them to influence our lives we refuse to tolerate death darkness and destruction sin stealing brokenness chaos instead we show up and say how does god want to move what does god want to do what does his kingdom look like in this space we are not victims of our circumstances we are hope carriers living by faith bringing the kingdom of god wherever we go we're not very excited about that see faith does not deny the facts it just refuses to see them as truth that's all it is so are are you living and leading by faith are you leading your family by faith are you leading your team by faith are you leading your circle by faith like like are you walking by faith with focusing on the superior realities of the kingdom coming to the inferior circumstances that we see more focus on what god is saying to us and what we can see come on this is the way of jesus think about it jesus never let what he saw determine what he believed he never let what he heard determine what he thought about and he never allowed the circumstances to influence the reality of his heart he allowed what the father said to determine what he believed what the father uh said to determine what he thought about and what the father said to determine the realities of his heart so every situation every circumstance is an invitation for us to practice the way of jesus and as we begin to practice the way of jesus walking in faith it eventually begins to manifest or show up in our lives it shows up in your actions and in your behaviors and in your words and in your language and in your choices it begins to show up in how you grieve and how you view yourself and how you take opportunities and deal with those circumstances in fact this is why faith without actions is dead faith leads you to actions there's actually faith in your life it begins to show up in how you talk how you think how you move how you live faith will show up most importantly in your countenance because you become what you behold and you radiate what you stare at and so if i'm focused on the situations and circumstances the things that i can see my countenance will reflect despair desperation worry stress anger but if i look towards jesus my countenance will reflect hope and peace and joy faith that has no action showing up in its life is dead so if there's no action showing up in your life then your faith is dying or it's dead the good news is we serve the god of resurrection and he can resurrect that faith just like the man who had the demon-possessed son and he tried everything there was to do he finally comes to jesus as his last ploy of desperation and he says lord if you can do anything please help us and jesus says everything is possible for him who believes and the man says i do believe but help me in my unbelief and jesus doesn't rebuke him he takes that small measure of faith heals the boy and strengthens the man and that's what god wants to do with us see hear me jesus is the source of your faith you don't grow your faith by looking inward if you're like man my faith is dying it's it's going out my belief is struggling don't look at your faith the more you look at your faith what you need to do what's going on in here the worse it will get no no you need to look to jesus because jesus is the source of our faith you with me on this let me go real quick because i'm out of time look at these three verses though this is how you strengthen your faith let us fix our eyes on jesus the author and perfecter of our the more i look to jesus the more my faith in the goodness and the character and the nature of god begins to grow this last season a lot of our eyes have come off jesus on everything else like peter walking on water as long as he's looking at jesus he can walk on water the moment it says he saw the wind and the waves he began to sink if our eyes are fixed on jesus we walk in the superior realities of the kingdom in the midst of the inferior realities of this world water is an inferior reality in the kingdom of god another time so second one so then by faith comes by so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god in other words whatever i'm hearing my faith in that thing is growing is it any wonder then that maybe some doubt has crept into our heart over this last season because we've been listening to so much death darkness destruction despair depression gloom weightiness our faith in that thing begins to grow so we need to turn those voices off and we need to turn on hearing about jesus and who he is and what he has done you need the word of god spoken over your life you need to engage the scriptures for yourself take our worship music and just play it in your house why because faith comes by hearing and whatever i'm hearing my faith in that thing begins to grow are you listening to the right stuff and then the last thing is simply this for the lord is good his love endures forever his faithfulness continues through all generations the lord is good to you if his love endures forever he was love he is love and he will be love and his faithfulness continues through all generations faith flows through relationship when i get around the faithful god i will become full of faith when i get around god in his atmosphere in his environment i have relationship with him his character and his nature is faithfulness so when i get around the faithfulness of god i can't help but become full of faith this is moses moses spoke to god face to face the way a man would speak to his friend he got around the faithfulness of god so he was always full of faith at every trial and obstacle and problem that they ran into the israelites they withdrew from god and because they never were around the faithfulness of god they were never full of faith at every trial and obstacle and challenge they had they walked by sight and they freaked out the way you grow your faith is by getting around the faithfulness of god and he will fill you full of faith the ancient path is walked by faith not run by sight by faith by faith by faith i can choose to have more confidence in what i hope for than what i have i can be more focused on the goodness and the character of god in the midst or in spite of the circumstances of my life so close your eyes come on what does god want to say to you today there's so many things we could pull on and pray through and talk about i think so many of us today we've been wrestling with god like jacob maybe we weren't even aware of it maybe we didn't even have words to put to it but maybe today is god's way of encouraging you and saying keep wrestling with me don't give up now don't quit in the mystery don't give up in the valley of the shadow of death keep wrestling until god blesses you until you change until you see him face to face and see his character and his goodness and his nature more clearly that you may live so jesus today we take our eyes off of everything else we look to you and we say increase our faith may your faithfulness fill us with faith and may we continue to walk down this ancient path the good way and may we find rest for our souls by faith in jesus name we pray amen [Music] may you have the faith to follow the ancient path this week hey if you need prayer for anything our team has been praying for you and we would love to pray with you so you can go to this link and we'll reach out to you today if you came ready to give you can give online at valleycreek.org but go this week knowing that god is good that jesus has forgiven you that you are loved and that everything is possible go as a hope carrier in jesus name so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] do [Music] do [Music] do [Music] so [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Valley Creek Church

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Id: snDFonO1mTc

Length: 83min 4sec (4984 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021