WHAT IS FAITH?

FOUNDATION STATEMENT: Faith is living (thinking, talking, and acting) like the word of God is true, before it has manifested physically in your life.

Foundation Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:7

I.        Our lives are not to be conducted by the information that we gain through the five physical senses.  Our lives are to be conducted by our faith in God and His word. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

A.     We live and conduct our lives by faith, not by sight

1.      Walk (peripateo) - live and conduct our lives

a.      The conduct of our lives is our thoughts, words, and actions

2.      Sight (eidos) - form, appearance

a.      The conduct of my life is not based on the appearance of things

3.      Our thoughts, words, and actions are not governed by what we gain through the five physical senses, they are governed by our faith

a.      In the physical realm, things may appear to be one way, but I don't conduct my life based on the way things appear to be, I conduct my life by my faith in God and His Word

B.     Our lives are conducted by our faith in God and His word

1.      Faith (pistis) - faithfulness, belief, trust, commitment to trust, actions based on that trust follow

a.      Faith in God is faith in His word

i.         Mark 11:22 - Have faith in God

(1)     John 1:1 - God and the word are one in the same, you can't have faith in God if you don't believe His word

ii.        You have no ground for your faith if you don't know what God's word says

2.      My life is not governed or conducted based on what I see with my physical eyes, my life is governed and conducted based on my trust and faith in God's word

a.      You don't think, talk, or act based on what you see, you think talk and act based on your faith in God and in His word

3.      We see from this scripture that the Apostle Paul doesn't trust or believe what he sees

a.      What he sees and what he believes are two different things

b.      He says, "We conduct our lives by belief, trust, and commitment to trust, not by form or appearance."

c.      In other words what he sees in the physical world with his physical eyes is not what he believes

C.    Faith is believing that God's word is true when you can't see it, feel it, or touch in the physical realm

1.      John 20:24-29 - Jesus called Thomas faithless because he had to see it to believe it

a.      Faith is being able to believe it when you can't see it and Jesus said the guy that has faith like this is blessed or empowered to prosper

II.      The foundation for what I believe is not in what I see, but the foundation for what I believe is in what God said

A.     If what I see isn't in line with what God said, then I live and conduct my life by faith in what He said

1.      The foundation for what David believed was not in what He saw with his physical eyes, it was in what God said (1 Samuel 17)

a.      The appearance of things was telling him there's no way that you can win, but his faith was not based on what he saw, his faith was based on what God's Word said and God's word said if your enemies come against you one way I'll cause them to flee 7 ways

2.      The foundation for what the three Hebrew Children believed was not in what they saw, it was in what God said (Daniel 3)

a.      The saw hot fire that kills people who are thrown in it, but the believed our God whom we serve will deliver us out of your hand King

b.      EXAMPLE: If you see sickness on your body, but God's Word says you're healed, then you walk by trust in God's word, not the appearance of your physical body.  You conduct your life based on what He said.  You think healed, talk healed, and act healed because God said you are and if you believe God and trust God then you believe His word act like it's true.  Your physical body may appear to be sick, but you don't govern your life based on the appearance of things. 

3.      If God says one thing, but your circumstances say another thing, then you conduct your life as if what He said is true and what your circumstances say is a lie. (Romans 3:3-4)

B.     People who live by faith and conduct their lives by faith are possessed by the promise

1.      The appearance of things were telling Abraham, there's no way that you can have a baby, but Abraham didn't conduct his life based the appearance of things, he conducted his life based on  what God said in His Word (Romans 4)

III.    The life of faith is making the Word of God is final authority in your life

A.     When you have made the word of God final authority in your life, it means you believe it more than you believe anything else

1.      Making the word of God final authority means that everybody and every circumstance in the world can be saying one thing, but if the Word of God says something different then you believe the word of God

2.      When the Word of God is final authority that means that you believe what word says enough to the point that you conduct your life based on what that word says

3.      EXAMPLE: In the natural you may only have a dollar to your name.  So the circumstances are saying that you're poor and that you don't have enough.  But the word of God says you're rich.  If the word of God is final authority in your life, then you're not depressed or discouraged and you're saying, "I'm rich, prosperous, abundantly supplied, and overflowing in finances!" Somebody says, "Yeah, but you only have one dollar to your name." Yeah but the Word of God is final authority in your life and you believe what it's saying more than you believe what that dollar is saying.  

B.     Matthew 8 - The Centurion with Great Faith

1.      He tells Jesus what his servant's body is saying

a.      It's saying that he is sick and grievously tormented

2.      Speak the Word only

a.      I know what his body is saying, but I couldn't care less about what his body is saying because what you say is final authority so just say it and I'll believe it and it will come to pass

b.      What your word says changes everything

i.         THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING

3.      When Jesus said, "As you have believed, be it done unto you," the centurion left

a.      How did he know his servant was healed?

i.         Nobody came from his house and said he's healed

b.      He didn't say, "Well Jesus, I just don't feel like he's healed.  You know that was a pretty serious sickness on his body."

i.         Jesus spoke, it was final authority to him, so he left

c.      The centurion conducted his life not by sight, feelings, or the appearance of things but by his faith in the spoken word of Jesus

4.      His faith was "Great Faith" because the word of God was final authority to him

a.      In the time of need he ONLY needed the word of God

IV.   We don't live or conduct our lives based on physical things, we live and conduct our lives based on the Word of God (Matthew 4:3-11)

A.     The word of God just came to Jesus saying that He was the Son of God

1.      Satan came to Jesus and he was trying to get Jesus to need physical evidence to believe that the word of God is true

a.      If you are the Son of God, in other words you might not be, but if you really are then you should be able to do this physical thing

B.     We don't conduct our lives based on physical things, we conduct our lives based on the words that proceed out of God's mouth

1.      Jesus was saying, "I'm not the Son of God because I can turn rocks into bread or jump off of this mountain and not get hurt.  Those physical things don't make me the son of God. I'm the son of God because my Father in Heaven said I was and I know I am because of the words he spoke to me not because of some physical thing that I can do"

a.      He didn't base his belief that he was the Son of God off of the miracles that he could do, he based his belief that he was the Son of God off of the word that God spoke

2.      He didn't try to prove to Satan that he was what God said he was, by submitting physical evidence so why are you?

a.      He submitted spiritual evidence by responding, "IT IS WRITTEN," so why should your response be any different

b.      I don't need something physical here to believe that I am what God's word says that I am

c.      I'm it because God says I'm it and no other reason and I conduct my life based on my belief that God's word is true and anybody or anything that says something other than what His word says is a liar.

C.    EXAMPLE: If you really are prosperous financially how come you don't have any money?  I'm not prosperous because I have money or because I don't have money, I'm prosperous because God said I am.  Physical money doesn't make me financially prosperous.  I'm financially prosperous because My Father in Heaven said I was and I know I am because of the words that He spoke to me not because of some physical thing that I can see.

V.     Faith is the evidence that I have what I cannot see (Hebrews 11:1)

A.     Faith in the Word is the proof that I have what I cannot yet see and Faith in the Word is the proof that I am what do not yet appear to be

1.      This Word and my faith in it is the evidence that I have what you cannot see with your physical eye

VI.   Faith should be the way of life for the believers and it's this way of life that enables me to overcome the world and anything in it

A.     24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, 365 days a year

B.     2 Corinthians 5:7 - We conduct our lives by faith

C.    Galatians 3:11 - The just live by faith

D.    Hebrews 10:38 - The just live by faith

E.     Habakkuk 2:4 - The just live by faith