Nuggets From the Pastor’s Desk

For the past three months (August-October) Pastor Jones has been teaching on the subject of Faith. Included here are nuggets from these lessons to ponder and meditate. For the full lessons visit Branch of the Vine Christian Fellowship Church facebook page live streams From the Pastor’s Desk starting Aug 9, 2022.

 

What is faith?

Bible definition

• Hebrew 11:1 KJV “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
• Hebrew 11:1 NLrV “Faith is being sure of what we hope for. It is being sure of what we do not see.
• Hebrew 11:1 AMPC “ Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, [a]the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].”
• Faith is both substance or assurance and evidence or proof that God keeps His Word.

 

Where does faith come from? 

• Romans 12:3 “… according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
• At the new birth, God gives every person the measure of faith, but you have to develop that faith.
  
  

How do we increase faith?

• Romans 10:17 KJV “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
• You have to continuously “hear” the Word, receive it in your heart, and use it.

 

Why is faith necessary?

• We are saved by faith.
  • Rom 10:9-10 KJV “9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
  • Confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart and you are saved.

• We are justified by faith.
  • Galatians 3:24 KJV “…Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”
  • When we are born again, we are justified or declared to be right and righteous in the sight of God.
  • Romans 3:28, Romans 5:1, Galatians 2:16

 

How does faith work?

• Galatians 5:6 KJV “…but faith which worketh by love.”
• 1 John 4:8 KJV “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
• Romans 5:5 KJV “…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

How can we believe that God exists as the only God?

• Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
• We have to believe the Bible as the true Word of God.
• John 17:17 KJV “…thy word is truth.”

 

God rewards those who seek Him.

• Acts 17:27-28 KJV “27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”
• Matthew 16:27 KJV “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.”

 

God has provided everything we need in life through Jesus Christ our Savior.

• 2 Peter 1:3-4 KJV “3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

 

Everything God made, He did it by faith in His own words.

• Genesis chapter one tells what God said and did in creation.
• Genesis 1:1-29 KJV

 

By faith in God we believe we are made in His image and after His likeness.

• Gen 1:26-27 KJV “26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

 

He gave us authority on the earth to operate just like He operates.

• Adam and Eve fell to the deception of satan and brought us all under the sin curse–Genesis chapter 3. But God through His Son Jesus  redeemed us from the curse of the law (Gal 3:13).

 

What can you do with your faith to have a better life?

• Know the Word. Study, meditate the Word, pray, and hear from God in your spirit.
• 2 Timothy 2:5 KJV “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
• Joshua 1:8 KJV “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
• John 4:24 KJV “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
• When you realize you are a SPIRIT (heart), you have a soul (mind,emotions) all housed in your body, you can communicate with God without fear. Spirit (heart) is not an organ of the body; it is the real you.
• Luke 1:18 KJV

 

What is faith?

• Listen to the teaching by Pastor Jones and become strong, bold, and victorious in life. Let the hearing of the Word grow your faith and say the Word (Mark 11:22-26). By faith say only what God says about you. By faith, repeat boldly statements such as:
  • “I am healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) 
  • “I am more than a conqueror” (Romans 8:37)
  • “All of my needs are met.” (Philippians 4:19)
  •  “The thief can’t steal the abundant life I have through faith in Jesus Christ.” (John 10:10)
  • “I can speak to my mountains, and they have to move.” (Mark 11:23)

 

What is faith? It is the substance of what you hope for, the evidence of what you do not yet see. Believe it by faith until you receive  the abundant life God has given you through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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From the Pastor’s Desk