- Welcome to a Grace Digital Presentation.
Let me tell you about a man
who has indeed begun a new dispensation.
There have been only seven,
and one man who began a new dispensation
of his own accord was Abraham.
It was the dispensation of promise.
He conceived and gave birth to a new race
of people called Christians.
God used Abraham
and he brought into being the body of Christ.
We are a new breed of individuals
that has nothing to do with the direct bloodstream.
One of the most important things
I would like to single out to you
is that faith is a life and not an event in your life.
Maybe we want it to be an event,
that it is a climax, but that is not the belief.
There were dynamic faith movements
in the life of this man, Abraham.
In this video, we will discuss
five things you must know about faith.
In Hebrews 10:38, it says,
"And my righteous ones will live by faith,
but I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away."
This verse is talking about the justified,
the ones who are just as if they had never sinned.
The Word of God says that the justified
does not live by natural methods.
The redeemed has a secret power called faith.
The just live by faith.
They make their decisions based on faith.
They do things that others do not fully understand
because they live in a dimension
that goes beyond natural dimensions.
They live by faith.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us,
"And it is possible to please God without faith.
Anyone who wants to come to him must believe
that God exists and that he rewards those
who sincerely seek him."
That we cannot please God without faith,
you and I should seek faith in order to please God.
Faith does not mean to profit ourselves,
but to please God.
What then is faith?
It is a recognition of God.
The amount of faith you have is directly related
to your understanding and knowledge of God.
Number one, knowledge of God.
When a child is more familiar with the mom
and not the father and the father stood her
on top of a high surface and said,
"Honey, jump to me,"
she would look down and say, "No."
But when her mother came and said,
"Baby, jump to mama," the child said,
"One and two," closed her eyes
and went out with her arms in the air.
The father could get mad, but the child answered.
"I do not know you."
Many of us did not jump what God said, "Jump,"
because we did not know God.
Rather than asking God for faith,
we should seek to an understanding of God.
This is not a search for faith. It is faith.
Knowledge of faith can completely change your life.
For a long time, there has been
too much mysticism about the subject of faith.
It does work.
However, God cannot bless ignorance.
If you want to get to the power of God,
try to learn something about God,
because if you know God, you will have faith.
Let me tell you about a man
who has indeed begun a new dispensation.
There have been only seven
and one man who began a new dispensation
of his own accord was Abraham.
He was not born great, but however he grew great.
Faith is not easy.
Intimacy with God is through
the divine relationship with faith.
It is not an easy life, but it is an exciting life.
It's not something that just happens to you.
Number two, faith hears.
Genesis 12:1 says, "The Lord had said to Abraham,
leave your native country,
your relatives and your father's family,
and go to the land that I will show you."
Abraham was a citizen of Ur of the Chaldeans.
Abraham's people developed the city of Babylon and Babel,
the great tower.
In spite of their culture, people
and their families were idolaters.
In Joshua 24:2, it says,
"Joshua said to the people,
'this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says.'
Long ago your ancestors, including Terah,
the father of Abraham and Nahor,
lived beyond the Euphrates River,
and they worshiped other gods."
Abraham's environment and inheritance
were at odds with his faith.
He was not a product of his time. He was different.
Abraham was like a lily that came up out of the mire
and like a rose that came out from among the briars.
Abraham received word from God
that he should leave his house and his land
and all his people and go out from them.
God promised to bless him if he did it.
God speaks to many people, but all too often,
they do not recognize God's voice.
It's unfortunate when they don't know the voice of God.
What is faith? It is to listen to the voice of God.
God spoke, and Abraham listened.
How can one hear the voice of God?
Being quiet before him, living in his presence,
reading his word, loving him with all your heart.
God wishes to speak to his people.
The first intriguing thing about Abraham
is that he heard when God spoke.
He didn't have to run away like Samuel,
when he said to Eli, "Did you call me?"
Eli said, "No, I didn't call you."
After three journeys there, Eli said,
"Samuel, this must be God talking to you.
If God has something to say, then listen."
Whole denominations miss God,
because they cannot hear what he has to say.
Jesus said that there are people who have ears,
but do not hear.
I can assure you that there are millions
of so-called Christians who did not know God's voice at all.
Faith is the knowledge within us that when God speaks,
we understand what he has said.
So faith hears God.
Number three, faith acts.
Genesis 12:4 says, "So Abraham departed
as the Lord had instructed and Lot went with him.
Abraham was 75 years old when he had left Haran.
Abraham obeyed.
He did not stop between the two great rivers,
Euphrates and Tigris, a rich, luxurious enticing area.
At that time, the largest civilization
on the surface of the earth was located right there.
And God said, you are going west, young Abraham,"
and he gave him no map.
He just said, go and Abraham started to walk.
Anyone who thinks this was easy, has missed the whole story.
Babylon was a great city and rich Abraham
had to sell his property and leave the city,
his relatives, his friends, and all that was dear to him.
What is faith? When one hears the voice of God, one acts.
It is action that God likes.
It is action that God wants. That is faith.
Number four, faith challenges the unknown.
When you know all the facts,
you don't need to believe.
Hebrews 11:8, "It was by faith that Abraham obeyed
when God called to him to leave home
and go to another land that God would give him
as his inheritance."
He went without knowing where he was going.
When one wants to become a person of faith,
one enters the realm of the unknown.
They will move to positions. You don't understand.
Faith is when one is willing to deal with God
in areas where one is not sure
and does not know whether one has a place to put one's feet.
The word of God states that he went out
without knowing where he was going.
You should have seen his neighbors.
And he rode upon these great and beautiful camels
and had all his cattle with him, his sheep and his goats.
And they began to go with him.
Neighbors said, "Where are you going, Abraham?"
He said, "I don't know."
"You have this whole caravan and you don't know.
Can you tell us something about that?"
Not only did Abraham not know where he was going,
he also had no friends who had been there before.
He only knew that God said go,
and he began to move at God's direction
to obey and walk with God.
The greatest fun in life is going to places
where you don't know how far it is or when you get there.
But it's exhilarating to get there.
The faith is an element of the unknown.
If you are not ready to function in the unknown,
or if you have to have certainty,
you never know what faith is.
Number five, faith has no generation gaps.
Faith is a power that can tie generations together.
Faith is the authority to say to your son, "I've got it."
You get it. You give it to your children.
Faith has the power to transcend generations.
The denominations cease because they do not have the faith
to pass with the same energy and spirituality
to another generation
as they had in the previous generation.
Hebrews 11:9 says, "And even when he reached the land,
God promised him, he lived there by faith
for he was like a foreigner living in tents.
And so did Isaac and Jacob who inherited the same promise."
You are supposed to live on the face of this earth
as a stranger to the earth.
This world is a place you are passing through.
Through this faith, he dwelt in the land of promise,
as in a foreign land, he lived apart from others,
living in tabernacles with Isaac, one generation,
with Jacob, another generation, heirs of the same promise.
Abraham shared his faith with the next generations.
Doubts and fear and compromise can never do that.
It requires faith to do it.
You must believe God that your children will believe
just as you believe.
You may say, "When does it begin?
It originates in your own heart
before the child is conceived.
During the whole time the child is in the womb
and when it is delivered, one prays over that child,
and when it grows up, one should be sure
that this is the most important thing one teaches him.
The major place for the Bible is in the home.
The second important place for this is the church.
Many churches also do not have much Bible instruction.
When you send your children to school,
they should be walking Bibles,
speaking out the word of God that they have already heard.
Faith is the power to carry the Christian religion
from one generation to the next.
What is faith? Transcending generation.
Let us pray.
Question of the day, what is your favorite Bible verse?