Faith comes by hearing

It’s pretty amazing just how close i’ve grown in my faith walk and more of an understanding of His Will for my life since January when i really decided to take my relationship with Christ Jesus, God Himself, to a deeper level. In my recent blogs you have heard me speak of things like my surrender and hopes and areas of encouragement, however with this i want to get back to something very fundamental that WE ALL LOSE FOCUS on more often than we want to admit.

Romans 10:17 (NIV)-… Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

Many of us know the Kings James Version of this passage that says faith comes by hearing, hearing the Word of God. So i guess if this is real (and i believe it is) then how do i hear the Word of God? Is it just on Sunday? or Easter and Christmas? or have you taken the daily time for you and Gods Word (The Bible) to hear His Word.

It crazy how many people who claim to be “Christians” that have put their eternal faith in someone they know very little about. Digging into the Word every day, reading Christian literature for growth and enjoyment or just listening to more encouraging music is Gods way of talking to us and convicting us in the areas of our lives that are not pleasing to Him… Remember, we are created for one purpose and that is to bring Glory to His Name and make disciples. I hope you don’t believe that God is going to yell from the sky when your messing up or not lining up with His purpose (though in the Old Testament He did several different ways). The way to know Him better is to seek after Him,and you will find Him, to knock on the door and it will be opened and to remain steadfast in our Hope and faith in Jesus…. not man! (Jesus Talking)Matthew 7:8- For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one whoknocks, the door will be opened.

As i have read the Word, sought after His Face (not just His hand), and resolved to take His Word seriously, He has been faithful always to be there and to speak to me when i am REALLY ready to be real with Him (and even more often than i’m worthy of). I want to recommend a couple of amazing resources and links, besides the Word of God, the 2 most influencing books and Pastors for my recent re-affirmation, dedication, commitment and diligence to my walk has thus been:

Pastor Francis Chan: He was the head pastor of Cornerstone Church and has a Gospel oriented, Christ focused Word. Words cannot express his passion, visit his main church website archive here http://www.cornerstonesimi.com/special/media_player.html, and look for His messages or youtube Him. Also he has 2 books i would recommend to anyone who is serious about knowing the True Gospel taught by Jesus and then left to be spread by common folk like you and me, not the “church”. His 2 books are “Forgotten God” & “Crazy Love”. These resources will fan the flame of truth in you and get the Holy Spirit moving in your life. I got both here at amazon SUPER CHEAP http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_26?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=forgotten+god+francis+chan&sprefix=forgotten+god+francis+chan.

Author David Platt: I believe as do hundreds of thousands of Christians that this is rhe realest book you will find on how the American Church has “watered down” the Gospel message and teach “blessings” more than commitment and instead look at the ministry of Jesus & uses scriptural truths to reveal this.. I ask you to read this with an open mind and ask God to do the rest… check it out at http://www.radicalthebook.com/.

One Word- LOVE!

Check out the new Scripture & Worship Video

1 John 4:16-17 (NIV):

We know how much God loves us, & we have put our trust in Him. God IS LOVE, & all who live in love, live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect…

In the recent few weeks, God has moved very powerfully in my family. My wife (and bestfriend) has, for the past few years,  really taken a back seat in her faith walk and was going through a season i believe many of us face at one time or another. Fairly deep into her faith walk, she experienced a season of what the Bible calls, Laodicea, (losing her 1st love). The love i refer to is not something we find here on Earth, but rather found only in an intimate relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. All glory be to God, because this past weekend, through circumstances God can only orchestrate, my wife has found her 1s love and God has soo ignited her spiritual flame.

Something that we are all bound to experience at one time or another is the “hypocrisy” or lack of true love and compassion in the church. Too many “believers” talk a very good talk, but unfortunately their walk does not always match up. Now i’m not saying anyone is perfect because God specifically says that everyone of us sins, and if someone says they are without sin then they are only fooling themselves and refusing to accept truth (1 John 1:8). But if we looked at the body of Christ and took a real assessment of ourselves, we have all fallen short of loving others the way Christ tells us to.  Look at this: Mark 12:30-31: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

I will say, if you like most of us have fallen victim to either a hurtful Christian or a bad “church experience”, its pretty easy to just be like “forget this” or “if this is what religion is i don’t want it”! I beg you to take a look not at man or religion, but a Christ Jesus and what He said and taught. The Jewish people had “religion” pretty locked down, this is why it was soo important that Jesus be born a Jew. What the Jewish people lacked was not “religion”, but true faith and true love. Many of us know God as the Creator or Judge of this world, but Jesus continues to focus our eyes on the fact that because of His sacrifice, we should look at God more as “Abba Father”, which translated is “Dear Daddy”.When God see’s those of us that have accepted His Son as Lord, the Word says  we are given the right to be called Children of God (John 1:12)! Hallelujah, how exciting is that!

The love the Word of God refers to here is the Greek root word Agape. Fundamentally, this word represents divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love as a true, and unconditional. This love is not one based off of circumstance or season, but rather based off of a deep seeded parent/child style love, which even from a human perspective isn’t perfect. However God cannot lie, He must remain truthful (Titus 1:2). This type of Christian love is not a feeling, but is a continual choice. We can choose to be concerned with peoples well being and treat them with respect, whether or not we feel affection toward them. If we choose to love others, God will help us express that Agape.

The Apostle Paul takes this one step further and says that even if he could speak in tongues and have the faith to move mountains, if he did this without love, then he is nothing and it was for nothing (1 Corinthians 13). God wants us to experience that type of love and the only way to do so is through His Son (John 14:6).

People are human and we are flawed, but God isn’t. If you ever had one of this “bad experiences” or “un-compassionate Christians”, realize that you weren’t dealing with Gods love in that situation, but probably someone who just tried too hard under their own strength or out of routine and forgot the real meaning of our Christian Hope… THE LOVE. I pray that you would not judge Christianity and the Sacrifice Jesus endured for you and me off of an experience or circumstance with an admittedly flawed human being. Dont look at man, church or people but instead look at Jesus and look for the most important of these… LOVE!

To my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, i pray that you evaluate the way you treat others and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the Agape in you. The world looks at us closely hoping to see true sincerity and love, DO NOT be a stumbling block (Romans 14). We are all commanded to be doers and not just hearers, DO NOT allow the condemnation of our lost love to be written on the dust of our Bible covers!!! Always be prepared to give an answer to the hope that we believe in, but do so in love, gentleness and respect. Allow the love of Christ to flow through you into those around you, always be open to be that vessel God may use to speak to or show Himself to another. If we can all just focus on one word- LOVE….. we can change the world for Christ!

Be Salt, Be Light…. Spread Truth!!!